Magicians of Gundam Wing
by MomsDarkSecret
Summary: The GW boys have returned to their own time, but they still have the powers and magical items they acquired in the past, plus Roku. Are the Colonies ready for this? Pairings: 1x2x5, 3x4. COMPLETED.
1. Back to the Future

This story is a sequel to another story of mine: **Gundam Wing and the Quest for the Holy Grail,** which is itself a sequel to my story **Gundam Wing and the Knights of the Round Table**. Like before, if you read this story without reading the other stories first, it might not make a lot of sense. But of course, that's part of the fun!

**Disclaimer**: This is an original work of fiction, but the characters of Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Wu-Fei Chang, Trowa Barton, Quatre Reberba Winner and Zechs Merquise are borrowed from Gundam Wing AC by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino and produced by Sunrise. Roku, on the other hand, is totally my creation. Other Gundam Wing characters, like Sally Po and Lucretzia Noin, who might appear or be mentioned are also borrowed from Gundam Wing by Yatate-sama and Tomino-sama.

**Warnings**: This is a comedy, but you'll have to watch out for implied yaoi, not-so-implied yaoi, sexual innuendo, adult situations, occasional swearing and a general lack of respect for "decent" behavior.

**Quote of the Day**: "I like my men young, cute and sexually ambiguous."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 1: Back to the Future

"_Preventers! Report!_"

Lady Une's voice cracked like a whip coming out of the communicator and everyone jumped.

"She sounds pissed," Duo said.

"She sure does," Wu-Fei agreed.

"Why is she even looking for us?" Quatre wondered. "We've been gone for over a year."

"No we haven't," Heero replied. He pointed at the console. "Look at the date."

"What the fuck?!" Duo exclaimed. "That's impossible! That's, like, the day after we crashed."

"Well," said Trowa, "Quatre did perform a time-travel spell to bring us back to when we left."

"So we've lived a whole year, doing all kinds of weird shit, and everyone thinks we've been missing for a day?"

"Yup."

Duo grinned. "That is so cool! We could go off and do all kinds of stuff and still be able to keep the universe safe for mankind! I am so there!"

Wu-Fei shook his head. "Leave it to Duo to see the upside of being a year older with nothing to show for it."

"What to do you mean 'nothing to show for it'?!" Duo exclaimed. "We came back with all sorts of new abilities and cool stuff. And Roku!"

"So now you're happy you can hear people's thoughts?" Heero grated.

"I admit that sometimes it's a bit inconvenient, but I'm learning to live with it. So who wants to answer Lady Une?"

"I will," Trowa said. He sat down at the console.

"Preventers HQ, this is Trowa Barton."

"_Trowa! Where the hell have you been? We've been trying to reach you for hours!_"

"Sorry, ma'am. We had a little accident, but we're all right now. We should be underway shortly."

"_Good. Report to my office as soon as you reach Earth._"

"Yes, ma'am."

"We better come up with a good story," Duo said. "Or do we want to just go with the truth?"

"What's wrong with the truth?" Quatre asked.

"So you were planning to tell Une that you're a wizard and can turn enemy forces into chickens instead of blasting them out of the sky?"

"Well…"

Heero lifted an eyebrow. "We'll have to tell them something." He nodded at Roku. "Someone may want to know where we acquired a shape-shifting tiger who calls Quatre Mama."

"Good point."

"Mama, who is Lady Une?" asked the aforementioned Roku.

"She's our boss, Roku. We all work for her."

"Will I work for her, too?"

"You're a little young to be a Preventer, sweetheart."

"What's a Preventer?"

"A Preventer is someone who protects people by preventing war and rebellion."

"Oh."

"But, we'll resolve that after we get back to Earth. Does this shuttle even work?"

"Let's see," Duo said. He sat down in the pilot's seat and started the engines. The shuttle roared to life. He checked the gauges and grinned. "Ready to rock and roll! Good spell, Quatre! I like it when someone thinks of all the details. Everyone strap in. You'd better change, Roku. The seatbelts aren't designed for a tiger."

Quatre showed the little boy how to fasten and adjust his seatbelt. Once everyone was settled, Duo took off.

Wu-Fei looked out the porthole as the airless moon dropped away. "Does anyone even remember what the hell we were doing out here?"

"We were looking for new resource satellites," Heero replied with his eyes closed.

"Oh, yeah. Should we drop a marker on that moon?"

"It's a little big."

"So what? Let the engineers worry about that. I don't want to go back empty-handed."

"Why worry about it?" Duo said airily. "You can just singe the nose of anyone who gives you crap about it."

Wu-Fei frowned. "I do not plan on breathing fire anymore. In fact, if I can figure out how to get these scales off my back, I will. They're starting to itch again."

"Doesn't that mean they are coming off on their own, Papa Wu-Fei?"

Wu-Fei groaned. "Don't say that! Don't mention that word!"

"What word?" said Duo. "You mean shed?"

"Dammit!" Wu-Fei began shifting around in his seat, rubbing his back against the seatback. "You wretch, Duo!"

"I still have the oil, Papa Wu-Fei," Roku offered helpfully.

"And I will be glad to sit in a hot bath with you and scratch off your scales, Fei," Duo said with a grin. "And then we can spend a long leisurely afternoon massaging oil into all your itchy places."

"Just fly faster," Wu-Fei grumbled. "This sucks."

"You guys may as well get some sleep," Duo said. "I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Heero's already asleep," Trowa remarked.

"So is Mama."

"You should sleep, too, Roku."

"I'm not sleepy, Papa Trowa, and I want to look out the window. Everything's all black."

"We're in outer space now; the empty space between the stars and planets. Papa Wu-Fei explained that to you, didn't he?"

"Yes. It's very interesting." He craned his neck to look at what Duo was doing. "Can I fly the shuttle?"

Trowa chuckled. "I'm sure Mama Quatre will teach you."

"Oh, goody!"

Several hours later, Trowa woke up to find Duo and Roku singing a drinking song.

"Roku, didn't you sleep?" Trowa asked.

"No. Papa Duo and I have been having fun."

"Why does that worry me?"

"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Duo exclaimed. "Anyway, we're almost there. It's time for everyone to wake up."

"All right." Trowa got up and nudged the others awake.

Roku was looking out the window again. "Earth is pretty from here. Is that where I was born?"

"Yes, it is, sweetie," Quatre said, "although it was a long time ago. I don't know that you'd recognize anything if we went back to the same part of Earth where you grew up."

"Probably not," Wu-Fei said. "Past wars have hit that island pretty hard."

"After we check in, I'll take you to the desert to meet some of my friends," Quatre said. "You'll like them."

"Speaking of checking in," Duo said. "How are we planning to explain Roku? If we're not careful, some damn scientist or other will want to whisk him off to a lab to study him."

Quatre bristled. "Oh, I don't think so," he growled.

"And if you're not careful," Heero said calmly, "they'll park you in the lab right next to him." He regarded Quatre sternly. "No transformations!"

"He's right!" Trowa echoed quickly. "You need to be careful about casting spells, Quatre."

"Does his magic even still work?" Duo asked.

Quatre held up his hand. "_Novi inlustris apparere_!" he intoned. A ball of fire appeared above his hand.

"Ok, that's a yes."

"No doubt we all still possess whatever powers and magical gifts we acquired in the past," Wu-Fei said. "Since most of us have exhibited one or more of the traits we picked up, it's probably safe to assume nothing has changed."

"So we all have something to hide," said Duo, "but we can't hide Roku."

"No, we can't," Quatre agreed, "so we'll just tell the truth." He looked innocent. "Roku can stay in human form while we're on Earth and we'll say he is the product of a recombinant DNA experiment I conducted on myself."

Everyone stared at him.

Trowa drew in a deep breath. "During the one day we were missing, without a lab or any equipment. I'm not sure anyone will buy that."

Quatre frowned. "So what do you suggest?"

"We can say we had an accident…" Trowa began.

"Which is true," Duo interrupted.

"And that you were injured…" Trowa continued.

"Only me?" Quatre frowned suspiciously.

"And that you gave birth to Roku as a side-effect of our emergency medical care."

Everyone stared at Trowa.

"You people are idiots!" Heero growled. "We don't have to tell them anything! Roku is Quatre's son, end of story. Nearly everyone in the Winner family was born out of a test tube. People will just assume the same of Roku. If he doesn't change shape in front of them, no one will have any reason to suspect anything."

"Good point."

"You don't mind staying in your human form when people are around, do you sweetie?" Quatre asked Roku.

"I will if you want me to, Mama."

"You're such a good boy."

"I'm glad that's settled," Duo said. "It's time to land."

Lady Une and Sally Po were waiting on the tarmac to greet them when they landed.

"I'm glad you're back, gentlemen," Lady Une said. "I was very worried when we lost touch with you the other day."

"Sorry about that, Commander," Wu-Fei said. "We had an accident and were out of commission briefly."

"No one was hurt?"

"Nothing serious."

"Who is this?" Sally asked suddenly. She had noticed Roku hovering behind Quatre.

"This is my son, Roku," Quatre said.

Une and Sally looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Your son?" Lady Une said. "I didn't know you had any children, Quatre."

"We picked him up while we were away," Quatre said.

"I see." Une choose not to question his deliberately vague response.

"Say hello to Lady Une and Major Sally, Roku."

Roku stepped forward and bowed politely. "I am honored to meet you, Lady Une. I am honored to meet you, Major Sally."

Both women smiled.

"How polite!" Une exclaimed. "I am pleased to meet you, Roku. Welcome to Earth."

"Thank you."

"How old are you, Roku?" Sally asked.

Roku threw a quick glance at Quatre. "Um… nine?" he ventured.

"That's right!" Quatre said quickly. He stepped forward and put his hands on Roku's shoulders. "Roku just turned nine. Yup. He's nine."

"You're babbling, Quatre," Duo whispered.

Sally looked a little confused.

"Let's go inside," Une said. "You can give me a quick report. By the way, Vice Minister Darlian is here. She was also very concerned when she heard your shuttle was missing. When I notified her that you had reported in, she asked to be informed when you arrived on Earth."

A look of dismay crossed Heero's face and Duo started to laugh. Heero glared at him, but neither of them said anything.

Inside, Vice Minister Relena Darlian was waiting in Une's office.

"Heero!" Relena cried when she saw them. She jumped to her feet and started to rush toward him, but at the last moment, she stopped awkwardly and held out her hand. "I am glad you are all right." Her gaze shifted to the rest of them. "I am glad everyone is all right."

Duo leaned close to Wu-Fei. "She was so going to hug him just then," he whispered. "And she ain't thinking about the rest of us at all."

"I suspected that," Wu-Fei whispered back.

Heero clasped Relena's hand and then quickly released it. "Vice Minister."

Then Relena's eyes fell on Roku. "Who is this adorable little boy?" she exclaimed.

"This is Quatre's son, Roku," Sally introduced him with a smile.

Relena's eyes widened. "Quatre's son? I was not aware you were, ah, that you had, uh, I mean… Who is his mother?"

"I wasn't sure she was gonna pull that one out," Duo whispered to Wu-Fei.

"It was looking pretty bad for a second there," Wu-Fei whispered back.

Quatre flushed slightly. "You might say I am his mother. Roku was conceived in a, ah, non-standard way…"

"Seemed pretty standard to me at the time," Duo whispered.

"Me, too," Wu-Fei echoed.

Quatre threw them a warning look.

Relena, however, still seemed rather confused. "But, then, who is his father? If you are his… mother?"

"Well, it's a little difficult to explain…" Quatre began, but Relena was looking back and forth between Heero and Roku. She began to frown.

"He looks quite a bit like Heero," Relena remarked, a little too casually. "Just when did you do this? He seems awfully mature…"

"Well, you know, Miss Relena, we in the Winner family are always making advancements in the science of artificial reproduction," Quatre said hastily.

Relena's eyes narrowed. "I see. Human reproduction, apparently without an ovum, resulting in accelerated growth. I shall have to look into that."

"I think he looks a lot like Duo," Sally remarked. Her eyes were twinkling. "It's the hair."

"You don't think he looks more like Trowa?" Duo asked innocently.

Quatre began muttering under his breath.

"So tell me, Heero," Relena said, "when did you contribute your, ah, genetic material to Quatre for his conception?" Her tone was quietly dangerous.

Duo's eyes went round and he shook his head warningly at Heero.

Heero didn't notice. "It was a while ago," he said, without quite meeting her eyes.

"So you are his father!" she accused.

Heero flinched. "One of them," he muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"I wasn't the only one!" Heero said a little louder.

Sally was grinning broadly. Une was wearing a bemused expression.

Relena looked around. Her face was flushed and her eyes were a little wild. "I think there's something you're not telling me!" she exclaimed angrily. She took a step toward Heero. "I thought we had an understanding."

Duo clapped a hand over his mouth in a futile attempt to stifle his laughter.

"What is it?" Wu-Fei whispered.

Duo whispered into Wu-Fei's ear, "He's thinking that the understanding was that he had no intention of getting into her pants!"

Wu-Fei giggled.

Relena rounded on them. "What are you whispering about?! I will not be made a fool of!"

Duo and Wu-Fei tried to look innocent.

"Miss Relena," Trowa interrupted soothingly, "I'm sure this all sounds very odd, but I can assure you it is all perfectly straightforward. We'll all be laughing about this later when you understand it all."

Relena pointed an accusing finger at Duo and Wu-Fei. "They're laughing about it now! I want to understand it right now, not later."

"It's really simple, Miss Relena," Roku said. "Quatre is my Mama and everyone else is my Papa."

Relena stared at him.

"See?" said Trowa. "Simple!" He rubbed his hands together briskly. "Now, don't we have a debriefing to finish, Commander?"

"Um, yes," Une responded, a little flustered.

"Wait a minute…" Relena stammered.

"Why don't we step outside, Vice Minister, so the Preventers can make their report?" Sally said. She took Relena by the arm and guided her toward the door.

Relena reluctantly allowed herself to be ushered from the room, but not before she fixed sharp eyes on Heero and said, "We'll discuss this later."

Once the door was closed behind her, Heero heaved a sigh of relief.

Une looked from one to the other expectantly. "Well? I don't care what you tell Vice Minister Darlian, but I want the straight story and I want it right now."

"Yes ma'am," said Trowa, "but maybe you should sit down."

With a great deal of summarizing, hand-waving, back-tracking and glossing-over, they explained what they had been doing for the one day they were missing. They left out a lot of details; mostly the parts about sorcery, shape-shifting, talking dragons, fire-breathing, mind-reading, magical objects and sex.

Une looked really confused when they were finished and glad that she was sitting down. "But I still don't get where Roku came from," she said.

"It was magic," Quatre replied.

Une waited for more explanation, but when none was forthcoming, she sighed. "Very well. I guess I'll just have to accept that." She smiled at Roku. "I suppose it's not that important. But I doubt the Vice Minister will see it that way. Maybe you should take some time off and visit your families. If you really have been gone for a year, you must miss them."

"Thank you, Commander, that's very thoughtful," Quatre said.

"You can have a few weeks, anyway," Une continued. "But we really do need new resource satellites, so I'll expect you back to work after that."

"Yes ma'am!" The five pilots saluted and Roku copied them.

Heero was relieved to find that Relena was not waiting for them outside the door.

"She had business," Sally reported. "So, what's the plan?"

"We get time off," Wu-Fei said.

"That's nice. What are you going to do?"

"Visit our families, except I would rather stay on Earth," Wu-Fei replied.

"I could probably get some time off," Sally said. "Want to do a little sightseeing?"

"Sure. What about the rest of you?"

"I want to take Roku to meet the Maganac Corps and then we'll go see my sisters."

"I want to visit Catherine and see how the circus is doing."

"I should check in on Hildy and the business."

"I want to look around the Colonies. We should meet back here in two weeks."

"It's a plan."


	2. Dinner with Sally

Chapter 2: Dinner with Sally

"Say Fei," said Duo, "did you want me to hang around for a little while and help you with that, ah, problem of yours before I take off?"

Wu-Fei frowned. "Did you have to remind me? It had stopped itching." He twitched his shoulders uncomfortably. "This isn't fair. It hasn't been a whole year yet since the last time."

"What's the matter?" Sally asked curiously.

Sally, Wu-Fei and Duo were alone in the break room at Preventer headquarters. Heero, Trowa, Quatre and Roku had already gone their separate ways. Heero, in fact, had seemed especially eager to put the vacuum of space in between him and Vice Minister Relena Darlian.

"Wu-Fei's got a rash," Duo announced cheerfully.

"Duo!" Wu-Fei exclaimed.

"Is that from your accident?" Sally asked.

"You might say that," Duo grinned.

Wu-Fei glared at him.

"You may as well show her, Fei. She'll probably see it sooner or later."

"Is it contagious?" Sally didn't seem particularly concerned about the answer.

"No," Wu-Fei grumbled. He glared at Duo again and took off his shirt.

"Oh, wow!" Sally exclaimed when he turned his back to her. "That's beautiful! You call that a rash? It looks more like a tattoo."

"Look closer," Duo said. "It's not ink."

Sally leaned over and studied Wu-Fei's back. "It looks like… scales!" She slid a finger gently across the brightly colored pattern. "It's smooth, but so soft. That's really neat."

Wu-Fei wriggled under her finger. "Oh, great! Now it really itches."

"I'm sorry!" Sally exclaimed. She sat back.

"It's not your fault," Duo said with a wicked grin. "He's about to start shedding."

"Please don't say that word!" Wu-Fei moaned. He reached behind himself and scratched. "Crap! Roku left and he still has the oil."

"Nah, I got it from him before he and Quatre took off," said Duo. "Who's your best friend, Fei? I'm always thinking of you."

"We need someplace private," Wu-Fei said. "I'm not doing this where everyone can watch."

"Do what?" Sally looked from one to the other with raised eyebrows.

"We gotta scratch his scales off and then oil the new ones growing in underneath."

"How often do you have to do this?"

"Well, this is the second time, but we thought it would only happen once a year."

"I'm starting to think I should have sat in on that briefing," Sally said. "There's clearly something going on that I don't know about."

"It's a long story."

"I've got time. We're on vacation."

"We can talk while we take care of Wu-Fei," Duo said. "It'll go faster if there are two of us, anyway."

Wu-Fei groaned. "Do we have to keep talking about this? Let's go somewhere and do it. The itching is really starting to get to me."

"We can go to my place," said Sally. "It's not far."

"Good."

At Sally's small apartment, Wu-Fei stripped off his shirt again and plopped down in the middle of the living room floor, where Duo and Sally got down to the serious business of scratching. The shiny little scales cascaded off his back like snow and formed a growing pile around his butt.

"This is amazing!" Sally said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"We need to save the scales for Quatre, if you've got a container I can put them in," said Duo.

"What for? What's Quatre going to do with them?"

"Oh, you know Quatre," Duo replied airily. "He's always got some scientific experiment or other going on."

"Like that son of his," Sally remarked.

"Um, yeah, like that."

"So just who is the kid's father? I thought Relena was going to have a cow."

"Well, it's interesting. What Roku said is true. We're all sort of Roku's father."

"And Quatre is his mother."

"Yeah."

"You know that doesn't make any sense, even when one considers artificial reproduction."

"Yeah, I know."

"And you're not going to explain it."

"Well…"

"I am your friend."

"It's just… well… it's really a long story."

"There are a lot of scales to scratch."

"Help me out here, Fei."

"You dug this hole," Wu-Fei replied.

"How about the condensed version?" Sally suggested.

Duo sighed. "Well, it sort of happened like this: Quatre got temporarily turned into a woman and she was really pretty and we all kind of spent a little time with her and she got pregnant and later on when Quatre was a man again he had Roku." The words tumbled out of him really fast.

Sally stared at him. "Let me see if I got this right. Quatre turned into a woman, the four of you knocked her up and Quatre gave birth to a little boy?"

Duo flushed. "That's the gist of it."

"I didn't know you guys were that randy."

"It was sort of a special situation!" Duo said defensively. "You had to be there."

"I'm glad I wasn't, if you guys were so eager you got another guy pregnant."

"He wasn't a guy at the time!"

"Still…"

"Did I mention he was really pretty?"

"Quatre's pretty as a man."

"Well, that's true but…"

"You're just digging that hole deeper," Wu-Fei put in.

"Yeah, I think I'll shut up now," Duo agreed.

Sally laughed. "You know, it's never boring around you guys. I'm looking forward to hearing the whole story. But I promise not to tell Relena, because if she finds out Heero did it with another woman, she may try to cut off his balls."

"That's true."

Sally stood up. "So, I'll get something for you to put the scales in, we'll get Wu-Fei thoroughly oiled and then we can have a nice leisurely chat over dinner. How does that sound?"

"Just great!" Duo said with a sickly smile.

"You shouldn't have mentioned keeping the scales," Wu-Fei remarked when she was out of earshot.

"Yeah, it did sort of deteriorate from there, didn't it?"

"I thought you could tell what people are thinking. Couldn't you have just distracted her onto a different topic?"

"That's not easy to do when the person's only thinking about one thing."

"Kind of like trying to distract you from wanting to have sex?"

Duo poked him. "That's rude, but yeah. Speaking of which, can we do that after we have dinner with Sally?"

Wu-Fei sighed. "It's my own fault for bringing it up," he muttered.

Sally came back into the living room with a plastic container and lid. "I think this is big enough."

Duo nodded. "That should work." He sat back. "It looks like we're about done. How does it feel, Fei?"

"Better, but I really need that oil now."

"Right." Duo removed the little bottle from his pocket and pulled out the stopper.

"What's that made from?" Sally asked. "It smells odd."

"We probably don't want to know," Duo said with a grin. "Wu-Fei's a little sensitive about that sort of thing." He poured some oil into his palm and smeared it onto Wu-Fei's back.

Wu-Fei emitted a long, happy sigh. "Oh, that feels so good."

Sally lifted an eyebrow and Duo grinned.

"So what do you boys want for dinner?"

"Something vegetarian," Wu-Fei replied immediately. "I am so sick of eating unidentified meat of uncertain freshness."

"Anything's fine. I'm not picky," Duo said.

"You can say that again," Wu-Fei exclaimed. "Sally, you would not believe the things Duo was willing to put in his mouth just as if it were food."

"It was food."

"It was dead, that's all I'll agree to."

"Well, if it's dead, you can eat it, right Sally?"

"I think I'll stay out of this argument. I'll make a vegetable stir-fry. I just went to the farmer's market yesterday."

"Bless you!"

Over dinner, Sally resumed her relentless questioning.

"So, how did Quatre get turned into a woman?"

"It was sort of an accident."

"I would imagine so. He never struck me as the transgender type, although he is awfully pretty for a man."

"Trowa certainly thinks so," Duo muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Duo said quickly. "Anyway, Quatre was experimenting with a magic spell and it kind of went wrong."

"Quatre was experimenting with magic?" Sally was surprised. "I know he is a skilled scientist, but magic? Isn't that a little outside his interest area?"

"You'd be surprised. Quatre's interested in a lot of stuff."

"I guess so," Sally said thoughtfully. "So, you said he had Roku after he was turned back into a man. How did that work?"

"We were told that the magic that turned him back accommodated his condition," Wu-Fei replied. He frowned at Duo.

Duo shrugged. "I hear you, Fei, but she's just gonna keep asking."

Sally looked from one to the other. "There's something else you're not telling me?"

Duo grinned. "There's a whole lot we're not telling you, but I suspect it's all going to come out sooner or later."

"You're really making me curious." Sally leaned forward. "You were obviously gone for longer than a day, even for the few things you've told me. So it must have been time travel. When did you go and for how long?"

"See?" Duo said to Wu-Fei, "I knew she would figure it out." He turned to Sally. "We were in the past for about a year."

"Only a year! But Quatre said Roku is nine years old!"

"Well, Roku's pretty special, Sally. In actual age, he's around seven months old."

Sally's eyes went wide. "No kidding?"

"Yup."

"Well!" She sat back. "I wouldn't mind seeing that kid again, maybe examine him a little."

"Be careful," Duo said with a chuckle. "Quatre's just a little bit protective."

Wu-Fei snorted. "A little bit! He threatened a dragon over that kid!" At Sally's sudden interest, Wu-Fei flushed with embarrassment. "Oh, shoot!"

"A dragon?" Sally asked with forced casualness. "You met a dragon?"

"Twice!" Duo assured her with a cheerful nod.

"Bloody dragon!" Wu-Fei muttered under his breath.

"You didn't by any chance get recordings of any of this, did you?"

"Sorry, no," Duo said. "When we woke up in the past, all we had were our clothes. Even Heero had lost all his weapons."

"Heero without weapons!" Sally exclaimed. "He must not have been happy."

"Oh, he acquired more pretty quick. You know Heero."

"Yes, I do." Sally frowned thoughtfully. "So, you had an accident in your shuttle and woke up in the distant past with nothing but the clothes you were wearing. And this past had magic and dragons."

"That's pretty much it."

"So how much magic did Quatre learn?"

"A fair bit," Duo said lightly.

"What about the rest of you?" Sally stared at them curiously.

"We didn't study magic," Wu-Fei said quickly. "And there really isn't that much else to tell."

"I doubt that," Sally replied with a grin. "Want more stir-fry?"

"No thank you."

"I'll have more," said Duo. He spooned another generous helping onto his plate. "This is pretty good. You won't be offended if I season it a little, though?"

"Not at all."

"Great!" Duo sprinkled on a liberal dose of pepper.

Wu-Fei sniffed.

Duo looked at him. "Oh, Fei! Man, I wasn't thinking!"

Wu-Fei wrinkled up his nose and then pinched it between his fingers in a desperate attempt to avoid sneezing. He failed. He sneezed and flame shot from his mouth, setting Sally's table centerpiece on fire.

"Oh, crap!"

"No problem!" Duo cried, "I got it." He dumped his water glass on the flames, extinguishing them.

Sally stared at the blackened centerpiece with round eyes. Then she stared at Wu-Fei. "Did you just breathe fire?"

"Umm…"

"And you have scales on your back."

"Well…"

"Just when did you turn into a dragon?"

"I'm not a dragon!" Wu-Fei huffed.

"He doesn't have wings or a tail," Duo pointed out helpfully.

Sally looked at Duo. "So what interesting new skills or features did you pick up?"

"Who, me?"

"Yeah, Duo," Wu-Fei grinned wickedly, "why don't you tell Sally what you can do now?"

"Oh, I don't think we need to go into that," Duo replied sheepishly.

Wu-Fei grinned even more wickedly. Duo paled.

"You wouldn't!" Duo gasped.

Wu-Fei nodded slowly.

"You're a cruel man," Duo shook his head mournfully.

Wu-Fei leaned back and folded his arms.

"This is so unfair!" Duo complained. "Why did Heero have to leave so quickly?"

"Would either of you care to explain what's going on?" Sally asked. Her face was alight with curiosity.

"Duo can hear people's thoughts," Wu-Fei said.

"Aw, man!"

"You can? You can hear what I'm thinking?" Sally exclaimed. "I'm not sure if that bothers me or not."

"It's not like I want to!" Duo said. "I can't help it."

Sudden understanding dawned on Sally's face. "That's why you kept laughing in Une's office!" she said. "You could hear what Heero and Relena were thinking. Now that's something I wish I could have heard!"

Duo smiled. "It was pretty funny."

Sally leaned forward. "You know, this could come in real handy when we're trying to track down revolutionaries. We might have to tell Une about this."

"No!" Duo gasped. "I don't want people to know! They'll start avoiding me. Or worse, they'll start thinking even more." He put his head in his hands. "That's what always happens, they try not to think about stuff and they just end up thinking even louder. It's deafening."

"You may have a point," Sally said thoughtfully. "We don't have to tell Une, but I do think you should consider using your new skills to help the Preventers." She looked at Wu-Fei. "You, too."

"What good is setting things on fire going to do?"

"I don't know, it just might come in handy."

"I would also prefer that no one know about my, ah, condition," Wu-Fei said, a little haughtily.

Sally laughed. "I wouldn't tell anyone. Who'd believe me?" She smiled at them. "I'll keep your secrets, boys, but I think you need to tell me everything." She began ticking points off on her fingers. "Let's see: Wu-Fei's a dragon…"

"I am not a dragon!" Wu-Fei grumbled.

"Duo reads minds…"

"Not on purpose."

"And Quatre does magic. What about Trowa and Heero? Can they do anything?"

Duo sighed. "You're just gonna keep after us, aren't you?"

"Yup."

"Fine." Duo heaved another sigh. "I'll summarize."

Sally listened with great interest. "I almost wish I had gone with you. It sounds like you had an amazing time."

"Some of it was fun," Duo agreed. Then he yawned. "I need to get some sleep. I haven't slept since before we got back from the past."

"You can use my spare room." Sally pointed. "Wu-Fei, you can bunk in with Duo or crash in the living room."

Duo grinned at Wu-Fei. "Fei can bunk in with me. I don't mind."

"Great. Then I'll see you guys in the morning. Good night."

"Night, Sally."


	3. Warm Desert Nights

Chapter 3: Warm Desert Nights

Quatre and Roku sped across the desert in a small plane, skimming just above the sand dunes. Roku stared out the window excitedly.

"It's just sand, Mama!" Roku exclaimed. "Look at how much of it! Is it hot?"

"Yes, Roku, it can get pretty hot, especially in the sun like this. One has to be very careful in the desert, or it can kill you."

"Wow!" Roku stared with round eyes. "Does anything live there?"

"Quite a lot of things live in the desert," Quatre replied, "but they have adapted to life there."

"People, too?"

"Yes, people too!" Quatre chuckled. "That's who we're going to see. They are friends of mine who live in the desert."

"Do I have to stay a boy all the time?"

"Well, it would be better if you didn't change in front of people, but I suppose you'd enjoy exploring the desert more as a tiger."

Roku grinned. "Thank you, Mama."

Quatre pointed ahead. "We're almost there."

A fortified town rose up out of the desert with a large airfield on one side. Quatre angled in for a landing on the airfield.

"Mama, can I fly the plane when we go back?"

"I'll think about it."

As they landed, several men, many with beards, appeared out of a large hanger adjacent to the airfield. They began to point excitedly and call out to one another as Quatre rolled to a halt and shut off the engines.

"Come on, Roku," Quatre said, "I want to introduce you to the Maganac Corps. These men have helped me and saved my life many times."

They climbed out of the plane and started across the tarmac.

"Master Quatre!"

"Welcome back!"

"We heard you disappeared!"

The men dashed forward eagerly to surround Quatre and Roku.

"It was just a small accident," Quatre said quickly. "Everything's fine."

"Who is this?" Abdul asked, patting Roku on the head.

"This is my son, Roku." Quatre put his arm around Roku's shoulders. "I brought him back from our excursion."

"Your son!" Everyone stared in amazement.

"Master Quatre," Rashid spoke from the shadow of the hanger doors. "I did not know you had planned to have a family. Congratulations! Although that seems a bit belated." He gazed at Roku with open curiosity.

Quatre smiled brightly. "Well, I didn't exactly plan to have a family, but when Roku came along, I couldn't have been happier."

"We are all very happy for you, Master Quatre."

"Thank you." Quatre spoke to Roku. "Roku, say hello to Rashid. He is the leader of the Maganac Corps."

"Hello Rashid," Roku said politely. "I am happy to meet you."

"How do you do, Roku?" Rashid shook Roku's hand gravely.

Roku stared curiously past Rashid into the cavernous depths of the hanger. "Mr. Rashid, what are those?" He pointed at several covered shapes that bore a striking resemblance to mobile suits.

The Maganac Corps were no longer supposed to have any mobile suits.

Quatre lifted an eyebrow at Rashid.

Rashid shrugged slightly, looking faintly sheepish. "We were planning to scrap them, Master Quatre. We just haven't quite gotten around to it."

"It's been a year," Quatre remarked.

"Well, you know how busy things get, sometimes…"

"Rashid…"

Rashid hung his head. "Of course, Master Quatre. We'll do it right away."

"If you're just going to throw them out, may I have one?" Roku asked.

Quatre stared at him. "Just what do you plan on doing with a mobile suit?"

"Well…" Roku tipped his head to one side and studied the nearest suit speculatively.

Quatre's eyes went wide. "You will NOT try to put that thing in your storage place!"

"It might fit," Roku said thoughtfully, "if I shrink it a little…"

"No!"

"I might have to rearrange things…"

"Absolutely not!"

"I could give back some of Papa Duo's stuff…"

"Roku!"

"Yes, Mama?"

"I forbid you to put a mobile suit in your storage place, no matter how small you can make it."

Roku looked disappointed. "Oh, all right."

Rashid and the others exchanged confused looks.

Quatre shook his head. "Never mind," he told them. "You don't want to know."

"How long can you stay, Master Quatre?" Abdul asked.

"About a week, then I want to go see my sisters. It's been a while."

"I thought you went home last month, Master Quatre?"

Quatre flushed. "Yes, well, um, that's true, but Roku hasn't met his aunts yet."

"He hasn't? But wasn't he born on your family's resource satellite?"

"Ah, no, Roku was born elsewhere." Quatre smiled another bright, innocent smile. "Why don't we go in and show Roku around?"

"Of course," Rashid said. "But did I hear correctly when Roku addressed you as 'Mama', Master Quatre?"

Quatre flushed. "Oh, well, yes, you did. The way Roku was born sort of, well, made me his mother, you see, so, well, he tends to address me as Mama, that's all."

Rashid looked very confused. "I see," he said.

Roku scampered ahead to peek under the cover of one of the mobile suits. "It's a big machine!" he exclaimed. "Do you know how to drive one of these, too, Mama?"

"Yes, I do."

"Will you teach me? It looks like fun."

"I don't know…" Quatre began.

"It would do no harm, Master Quatre," Rashid interrupted. "Although we have procrastinated on destroying them, the weapons have all been removed."

"I suppose it would be all right then."

"Oh, boy!" Roku dashed ahead to look at another mobile suit.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Abdul said and he trotted after Roku, followed by a few of the others.

"He is very energetic," Rashid remarked.

"And very curious," Quatre added.

"So just when did you have him, Master Quatre?" Rashid said, a little too casually. He was clearly trying to hold raging curiosity in check. "He appears to be nearly half your age."

"Roku is younger than he looks."

"I imagine he would have to be."

"A lot younger."

"I daresay."

"It's science," Quatre said with finality in his voice.

"Your family has indeed made some marvelous advancements in reproductive science," Rashid agreed.

"Why don't we join the others?" Quatre suggested and he hurried to catch up with Roku and Abdul.

Some of the men were removing a cover from one of the mobile suits so Roku could get a good look at it.

"You might be a little small to pilot it, Master Roku," Abdul was saying. "You may have trouble reaching some of the controls."

"But that's mostly the weaponry," someone said, "and we already removed all of that."

"That's true," Abdul nodded. "Want to get in?"

"Sure!" Roku hopped up and down excitedly.

Quatre folded his arms across his chest. "Don't you want to eat first? It's been a while since breakfast."

"In a minute," Roku said. He pointed at the mobile suit. "I want to try this."

Abdul brought a lift over and he and Roku rode up to the cockpit door. Everyone watched as Abdul opened the door and helped Roku inside. Abdul leaned in, explaining the controls to Roku. Then he stood back and looked over the side of the lift.

"This is one bright kid," Abdul said. "He's picking it up really fast."

"Tell him I said that's enough for now," Quatre answered. "He can pilot the mobile suit later. It's time for lunch."

Abdul spoke into the cockpit and a moment later Roku hopped out. As soon as the lift was more or less close to the ground, he leaped down and bounded over to Quatre with a wide grin.

"I like it, Mama! Are you sure I can't have one? Maybe just a little one? Please?"

Quatre couldn't help smiling. "And just what are you going to do with a mobile suit, young man?"

"Drive it around the desert and make big footprints."

"Tell you what; I'll let the Maganac Corps keep one or two mobile suits around and you can pilot them when you visit, ok?"

"Yippee!" Roku hugged Quatre tightly. "Thank you, Mama!" He bounded back over to Abdul. "Did you hear that? Mama said you can keep one for me. He's such a good Mama."

Quatre shook his head. "I'm a terrible mother. I'm too indulgent. I spoil him."

Rashid smiled broadly. "He seems none the worse for it, Master Quatre. He is a very sweet child."

"He is," Quatre agreed, "but I think it is all his own doing. We wouldn't mind a little lunch now, though, if it's no trouble."

"Your visits are our pleasure, Master Quatre. We will be happy to prepare a meal for you."

Roku was delighted to discover that desert people sat on the floor for meals and many tended to eat with their hands, with the occasional assist from a belt knife. He sat cross-legged on the floor and shoved food into his mouth with both hands.

"I like this food," Roku mumbled around a mouthful, "it's really good."

Quatre sighed mournfully as Roku got food all over his hands and face. "Do you think you could manage to get more of it in your mouth and less of it on you?"

"He eats well," said Rashid.

"Yeah," Quatre agreed, "it's too bad he learned his table manners from Duo."

"He is still young."

"I suppose."

"Are you planning to have other children, Master Quatre?"

"I haven't really thought about it," Quatre said quickly. "Raising Roku has kept me pretty well occupied."

"You are a good parent," Rashid said approvingly. "You should consider it."

Quatre blushed. "Well, yes, I'll think about it."

After lunch, Quatre regarded Roku with some dismay. "You need a bath."

Roku looked down at himself. "It's not that bad."

"You can't see your face."

Roku licked his cheeks, although his human tongue was less than adequate for the spread of food on them. "May I bathe later? I want to go play in the sand."

"You'll get sand stuck all over your face."

"I'll get sand all over me anyway."

Quatre sighed. "Good point. All right. You may go play, but come back before dark."

"Ok!"

"I'll show you the quickest way out, Master Roku."

"Thank you, Abdul."

As Abdul and Roku trotted away, Rashid said, "Is it safe to let him go out by himself? He might get lost."

Quatre smiled. "Roku will be fine. He's very resourceful. Why don't we sit somewhere and talk? I'd like you to refresh my memory of what's been happening over the past few months."

"As you wish, Master Quatre."

Roku returned at sunset, dusty, tired and smiling. "I like the desert, Mama!" he announced. "The sand is slippery, and there are bugs everywhere, and I found three different kinds of lizards, and I found a lizardy-thing that I don't know what is, and I found a bush with pretty pink flowers on it, and another bush with pretty white flowers, and a bush with little prickly spines all over it, and I dug a hole and it filled up with water so I drank it, and I found another bush with these pear-like things on it that birds were eating so I ate one and it was good, and oh, yeah, I saw a whole bunch of birds, and I saw this big giant spider that lived in a hole but I couldn't catch it."

Quatre, Rashid and Abdul stared at Roku with their mouths hanging open.

"Wait a minute," Quatre said. "You couldn't catch the spider? Does that mean you did catch other things?"

"Oh, yeah!" Roku said. "Look at this!" And he produced a bright green lizard out of nowhere. The lizard flicked out a long tongue. "It looks kind of like Gift, doesn't it?"

Quatre put a hand over his face. "What else did you catch?"

"Just a couple more lizards and that lizardy-thing that I don't know what is."

"Roku…"

"I'll put them back tomorrow."

"Good."

"Do you want to see the lizardy-thing?"

"Maybe after dinner."

"Ok."

"You'd best keep those creatures out of sight, little master," Abdul said with a grin. "Some of the ladies don't care for slithery beasties."

"I will," Roku promised. "They can't get out of the storage place."

"The storage place?" Rashid asked.

"Where I put stuff," Roku answered and he dropped the lizard over his shoulder. It disappeared.

Rashid and Abdul stared.

Quatre put both hands over his face. "Perhaps I should have mentioned that you might not want to show people your storage place."

"Oops," said Roku.

"Never mind." Quatre looked at the others. "Roku has a special talent, but it would be better not to talk about it. I don't want people to gossip about him."

"Of course, Master Quatre."

"Good. Now, I think Roku could use a bath before dinner."

In the bathroom, Quatre started filling the tub with warm water while he looked for soap and a washcloth. "We're going to have to wash your clothes as well," Quatre said. "You got food all over your shirt."

"If I change, they'll get clean when you wash me," Roku replied.

Quatre sat back on his heels. "Tell me how that works, please."

"Well…" Roku scratched his head. "When I change, my clothes sort of become part of my fur, if I'm wearing any, so when we wash my fur, the clothes get clean."

"I guess that makes sense," Quatre said. "I never really thought about where my clothes go when I shape-shift. Go ahead and change then. I'd just as soon get everything washed at once anyway."

Roku shifted into his tiger form and leaped into the tub. A wave of water splashed into Quatre's face. Roku hung his head over the side with a soggy grin.

"Sorry, Mama."

"I'm sure you are," Quatre replied sternly, but then he smiled. "Let's get you washed before someone catches us."

As usual, Quatre got almost as wet and soapy as Roku as the bath progressed. There was also a great deal of wrestling, growling, shouting and laughing. In fact, they were making so much noise that neither of them noticed when the door opened and Rashid and Abdul poked their heads in.

"Master Quatre," said Rashid, "is everything… all… right…?" His voice trailed off and he stared at Roku in astonishment.

"Master Quatre," exclaimed Abdul, "where did you get a tiger? I thought you were bathing Roku."

Quatre turned bright red. "Um… Yes… Well… This is… Roku…"

"Huh?"

Quatre hung his head. "I am so bad at keeping secrets," he mumbled. He looked at Rashid and Abdul. "Roku can shape-shift. Most of the time, he is a tiger, but he can be a little boy."

Rashid and Abdul stared.

"A shape-shifter?" Rashid said. "I did not know such talent ran in your family, Master Quatre."

"It's a recently discovered ability."

"Can you shape-shift, too, Master Quatre?" Abdul asked.

"Um…"

"I learned it from watching Mama," Roku said.

Quatre hung his head again. "I would rather that no one knew about this."

"Of course, Master Quatre," Rashid said. "We will not speak of this to anyone."

"Thank you."

"Perhaps you should keep the door locked when Roku changes shape."

"Yes, of course."

"Dinner will be served shortly."

"Very well. I'll just get Roku dried off and we'll be right there."

Rashid and Abdul backed out and closed the door. Quatre immediately stepped over and locked it. He turned to Roku.

"At the rate we're going, everyone's going to know everything about us," Quatre said with a mournful sigh.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know." Quatre got a towel and held it out. Roku scrambled over the side and Quatre began rubbing him dry. "I'm just worried someone will try to take you from me to study you."

"I wouldn't go," Roku said. "I belong with my Mama."

Quatre hugged him. "That's right, Roku. You belong with your Mama."


	4. Everybody Loves the Circus!

Chapter 4: Everyone Loves the Circus!

"Trowa!" Catherine cried delightedly. She waved excitedly from the trapeze platform. "We haven't seen you in so long! Wait one second! I'll be right down!"

Trowa stood in the entryway of the cavernous big top, his staff slung casually over one shoulder and around his torso in snake form. He watched as Catherine swung out over the safety net and dropped, landing neatly on her back and then rebounding onto her feet. She bounced her way to the edge and flipped off, dashing toward him as soon as her feet hit the ground.

"Oh, Trowa! I've missed you!" She flung her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

He returned the embrace. "I missed you too, Catherine. How have you been?"

"Fine, but we've been so busy. With everything so peaceful now, there's lots of work for the circus. It's like we don't have an off season anymore." She looped her arm through his and drew him further into the tent. "How long can you stay? I don't suppose you're thinking of leaving the Preventers?" She smiled at him hopefully.

Trowa shook his head. "No, I'm not leaving the Preventers. I'm just taking a little time off. I have a couple of weeks free and I wanted to see how you were doing." He looked around. "I see you're doing most of the same acts."

"Yes, but the tumbling's not the same without you. No one is as good as you."

"You're just saying that." Trowa patted her hand. "You're as good as I am."

"No I'm not." She sighed wistfully. "I worry so much about you when you're away. I wish you could stay."

'You know I can take care of myself." He disengaged his arm. "How are the animals? Any new ones?"

Catherine smiled. "A few. I suppose you want to see them?"

"Of course."

"All right."

The two of them walked out through the back of the big top. They walked past the dressing rooms and storage areas, through the practice arenas and to the animal cages.

Trowa frowned slightly. "The cages are a little small. I thought you had more room."

"They're the same size they've always been," Catherine replied, a little puzzled.

Trowa walked up to the lion cage and gripped the bars with one hand. The lion, lounging on his side, lifted his head to regard Trowa with a weary gaze. His mouth stretched open in a wide yawn and he let out a long, low growl.

"Really?" Trowa said.

The lion rolled onto his belly and huffed through his nose.

"It is?" Trowa glanced at the lion's water dish. "He has no water," he said to Catherine and pointed at the empty dish.

"Oh!" Catherine exclaimed. She looked around. "I'll get Peter. He's supposed to be looking after the animals." She hurried away.

Trowa leaned against the bars, looking down into the lion's golden eyes. "Does Peter often forget your water?"

The lion snorted and waved a paw.

"He does remember to feed you, though?"

The lion stuck his tongue out and growled. From a neighboring cage, a lanky female tiger made a coughing sound.

Trowa frowned. "I'll see what I can do." He turned to watch Catherine returning with the hapless Peter in tow. Peter was the unfortunate sort of person who did not inspire one with any kind of confidence that he could accomplish even the simplest task without screwing it up.

"You see?" Catherine said when they arrived. "No water. When did you last water the animals?"

"Umm… This morning?"

"You don't remember?" Trowa asked with a frown. He looked at Catherine. "It was last night. And he forgets all the time. It's very stressful for animals to go without water."

"But I fed them this morning!" Peter said defensively. He glared darkly at Trowa.

Trowa turned to Catherine. "The animals don't always eat because they're thirsty, and if there's food left from the day before, he doesn't give them fresh meat. Have you been having trouble during performances?"

Catherine was startled. "Yes! The tigers were very difficult yesterday. We had to cut their act."

"It's because they haven't been getting food and water regularly." Trowa jerked a thumb at Peter. "You should fire this idiot and hire someone with brains. Or chop him up and feed him to the big cats, and then hire someone with brains."

The lion stood up with a loud roar.

Peter jumped back. "That ain't funny!"

Catherine turned on him angrily. "Mistreating our animals isn't funny!" she exclaimed. "I'm going to talk to Father! You may as well pack you bag right now!"

"We'll see about this!" Peter shouted and he hurried away, throwing angry looks back over his shoulder at Trowa.

"Make sure you get rid of him," Trowa said. "The big cats hate him, and I'm sure it's no different with the other animals."

Catherine blinked at him in surprise. "How do you know this?"

"Oh, ah, well, you know I've always had a way with animals," Trowa said quickly. "I can just tell when something's bothering them."

"That's true, I guess…" Catherine said slowly.

"Anyway, we need to get water for the animals and check on their feed." Trowa grabbed her hand. "Let's do that right now!"

"All right."

Later, after the animals were all fed and watered, Catherine needed to return to rehearsal, so Trowa sat in the stands to watch. His staff unclasped its tail from its mouth and slithered down to drape itself across his knees.

"You nearly put your foot in that one," the snake hissed.

"What!" Trowa exclaimed, startled.

"About the animals," said the snake. It lifted its head and blinked at him with bright red eyes. "If you're not careful, she'll figure out you can talk to them."

"Since when do you talk?" Trowa demanded.

The snake chuckled. "I could always talk. I just never bothered before because no one could understand me." It winked at him. "That lass is a pretty creature. You wouldn't happen to know where her chamber lies?"

"What do you want to know that for?"

"Alas, before I became trapped in this staff, I wore the form of a man. I have not forgotten the pleasure of looking at a pretty woman. You could just lean me against the wall in her chamber for the evening."

Trowa stared. "I don't think so."

"All I can do is look," the snake hissed plaintively. "Will you deny a poor soul his only pleasure?"

"Yes, when we're talking about my sister!"

"You're a cruel master."

The snake started to slither off his knees. Trowa grabbed it.

"Oh, no you don't!" Trowa exclaimed. He gripped the snake firmly and straightened it with a swift jerk. It stiffened into the solid staff.

"A kinder man would show a little pity," the staff whispered hollowly.

"Shut up!" Trowa snapped.

Catherine finished her rehearsal and trotted over to Trowa. "I was thinking that we could perform our old act together while you're here," she said. "Everyone always enjoys the high-wire act and no one wants to do the knife-throwing act with me." She frowned slightly. "I think they don't trust me."

"Nonsense," said Trowa. "No one throws as well as you do. But I think it would be fun to perform with you for a week or so, if it won't disrupt things."

"It won't!" Catherine said delightedly. "I'll go tell Father. You can use my dressing room. I have all of your costumes in there."

"Fortune smiles on me!" the staff whispered.

Trowa threw a nervous glance toward the staff, but Catherine seemed oblivious. "I don't want to crowd you…"

"It's no bother! I'd love to have you." Catherine squeezed his hand. "I'm going to go change. We have time to have dinner together before tonight's show." She smiled happily. "I have to watch what I eat, though! I'll be right back." She jogged away.

"Don't talk in front of people," Trowa whispered to the staff.

"It doesn't matter," the staff answered. "They can't hear me. Not in words, anyway. Even stiff like this I still speak snake."

"Even so…"

"Fine, I won't talk. But I expect a little something in return…"

"I'm not letting you ogle my sister!"

"She won't know."

"I will!"

"I'll teach you how to summon a great spirit."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Great spirits enjoy visiting their smaller mortal cousins. Invoke a great spirit and ask it to look after the circus. It will protect them from harm."

'If they like visiting, why don't they just do it?"

"The great spirits are not like the lesser ones. They can't just show up wherever they please; they must be invoked. I noticed there is a female bear here. If we call a male bear spirit, he will want to mate with her, which will make it easy for you to bind him to the circus."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Trust me."

Trowa looked at the staff. "Nothing makes me less inclined toward trust than hearing those words come out of a piece of wood. Except maybe from Duo."

The staff chuckled. "The protection of a great spirit is a good thing."

"I suppose…"

"The summoning is not difficult."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm being hoodwinked?"

"I would never mislead my chosen master."

"Even to get a glimpse of a naked lady?"

"You wound me to the quick."

Trowa stared thoughtfully around the big top.

"Should war break out, a great spirit would protect them from harm," the staff said.

"All right, you've convinced me." Trowa stood up. "But we'll do it later. First, I'm having dinner with Catherine. And I'm leaving you here."

"As you wish, master."

Trowa left the staff in Catherine's dressing room while they went to dinner. They dined at an outdoor restaurant, with the early evening stars just starting to shine overhead. It was pleasantly warm and flowering plants growing in pots on the patio between the tables filled the air with a delightful fragrance.

"I love performing on Earth!" Catherine said with a happy sigh. "I miss the open sky when we're in the Colonies. Looking up and seeing buildings over my head seems wrong somehow."

"You get used to it if you live there," Trowa replied with a shrug. "I don't really notice it."

"I suppose, but I still prefer it here." Catherine leaned forward with a serious expression. "Are you sure you don't want to come back to the circus? I always worry about you when you're with those other Gundam pilots. It seems like trouble is attracted to you whenever you're with them."

"Are you sure it's not the other way around?" Trowa smiled.

"I'm serious!"

"So am I. They are my friends, Catherine, and preventing war is better than waging it." Trowa leaned forward and touched the back of Catherine's hand. "You know the circus is more of a hobby for me. Serving with the Preventers is my vocation."

Catherine frowned unhappily. "I know you believe that, I just wish…" she sighed. "I suppose it won't do any good to keep asking."

Trowa shook his head.

"Well…" Catherine forced a smile onto her face. "You're here now, so I'm happy for that."

"Good. Let's eat. We don't want to be late for the show."

"Right!"

After a tasty but small dinner, they returned to the circus. In Catherine's dressing room, Trowa casually tossed a blanket over the staff where it was leaning in one corner. The staff hissed faintly from beneath its covering.

"What was that?" Catherine exclaimed. "It sounded like a snake."

"I didn't hear anything," Trowa said innocently.

"You didn't?" Catherine looked around uncertainly. "I guess I just imagined it. Here, help me with my costume, please."

"Sure."

"Woe is me!" the staff hissed from beneath the blanket. "Is she naked?"

Trowa gritted his teeth.

"Are you sure you didn't hearing a hissing sound just then?" Catherine peered over her shoulder toward the corner.

"I think it came from outside," Trowa lied.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Liar!" the staff muttered.

Catherine jumped. "That definitely came from inside!" she said nervously. "There's a snake in here."

"How would a snake get in here?" Trowa tried to sound reasonable. "Do you have a snake act in the circus right now?"

"No, but…"

"Then it can't be a snake. It's probably a leaky valve or something." Trowa finished zipping up her costume. "Go do your makeup. I'll have a look around."

"Ok." Catherine kept throwing nervous glances over her shoulder as she settled down at her dressing table.

Trowa made a show of looking around the dressing room before making his way into the corner where the staff rested.

"You better stay quiet or I'll shove you in the closet!" Trowa growled under his breath.

"Would it do any harm to let me look?" the staff murmured back. "Honestly, I've had nothing but you and your blond companion to look at lately, and while he's certainly cute, I still prefer women."

Trowa flushed. "There are other women in the circus," he said finally. "You can slither off and look at them, but you keep your eyes off Catherine, understand?"

"Agreed!"

"Fine. I'll fold you as soon as Catherine leaves."

Catherine was almost done applying her makeup. "Did you find anything?"

"I think I saw a mouse," Trowa replied smoothly. "It was probably chewing on something. It's gone now."

"Oh."

Trowa walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "You look good."

"Thanks. Do you need me to help you get ready?"

"No, go ahead. I'll be right out."

"Ok! See you on the high wire!" Catherine hurried out.

Trowa immediately went to remove the blanket from the staff. "We have a deal, right? No peeking at Catherine?"

"Right."

Trowa grasped the staff in both hands and folded it. It slumped into its snake form and he dropped it on the floor. "Meet me outside after the show. And make sure no one sees you." He held the door ajar.

"Yes master," the snake hissed and it slithered out the door.

Trowa shook his head. "This is probably a huge mistake." Then he hurried to change into his costume and put on his makeup.

The performance was a huge success and Trowa had a lot of fun. After the show, he returned to the dressing room with Catherine to change.

"You can stay with me while you're here, Trowa," Catherine said after they had changed and washed off their makeup. She yawned. "You can use the cot over there."

"Thanks. Why don't you go to sleep? There's something I want to do before bed."

"Can I help?"

"No, that's all right. I'll just be a minute."

"Ok, good night."

"Good night." Trowa went outside and looked around. The snake slithered out of the shadows beside the dressing room and wound its way up his leg.

"Ah, such beautiful creatures!" the snake hissed. "What joy! That wretched Keb never folded me, so I saw nothing but his wrinkled behind for too many years. Now, shall we summon a great spirit?"

"Right now?"

"Why not? There is no reason to delay. Besides, I passed that she-bear while I was out and she sounds lonely to me."

"You spoke to her?"

"I am a creature of magic. Like you, the language of many beasts is known to me."

Trowa glanced at the sky. "The moon's not full. It's not even up."

"That doesn't matter. Summoning spirits has nothing to do with the time of day or the cycles of the moon. The druids were partial to the night of the full moon for other mystical reasons. And it's also the only night they can hope to summon a great spirit without my help."

"You mean Lorene should have kept you?" Trowa asked in surprise. "She didn't seem to think you made a difference in the summoning."

"That's why Lorene did not become the leader of the druids after her father died, may the spirits bless his memory," the snake replied. "She did not know how to talk to me and did not know how to use me to summon a great spirit."

"Did Keb?"

"No."

"Then how did he manage it that night?"

"He didn't do it. I did." The snake chuckled. "I was hoping he'd get eaten and I'd get a chance to move to a new master. It worked out pretty well for me, I think."

Trowa stared at the snake's glowing red eyes for a moment. "All right. Let's summon a great bear spirit and ask it to watch over the circus."

"Very good. I need to be stiff for this."

"Ok." Trowa grasped the snake and pulled it straight. It stiffened into the staff and he held it lightly in one hand, the butt end resting on the ground.

"Now, there are several ways to summon a specific great spirit. If you know its name, that's the best way. If you don't, but you want to invoke a particular kind of great spirit, you can either speak in that spirit's native tongue, in this case bear, or you can use a long and complicated incantation. Since you speak bear, we'll skip the incantation. So, repeat after me: _Great Spirit of the forest, whose might levels trees and stops rivers, whose claws split the mountains and dig the ravines, whose cry is echoed on the wind, hear me! I invoke thee! Stand thou before me and hear my command. I invoke thee and thou must obey!_"

Trowa repeated the words, keeping in his mind the image of the bear spirit he saw before so his words would come out in bear. When he finished speaking, there was a moment of unusual silence, and then a long low growl that seemed to rumble right up out of the ground sent a shiver up his spine.

"Good job!" the staff hissed. "Few people get it on the first try."

A large dark shape loomed up out of the shadows and blotted out the stars overhead.

A deep guttural growl accompanied a puff of air that ruffled Trowa's hair. _Who summons me?_ the growl translated.

"I did," Trowa answered. "I have a task for you."

_I know thee, little man,_ said the spirit, _though it has been many years_.

"Yes," said Trowa. "Do you see these tents and buildings, and the people and animals in them?"

_Yes_.

"I would like you to give them your protection, to keep them from harm."

_This is a small thing, though it requires me to stay awake. Why should I do it?_

"There is a young female bear here who pines for a little company."

The bear spirit's ears perked up. _Indeed? Well, far be it from me to deprive one of my small cousins of companionship_. The bear spirit lifted its large head and sniffed. _Ah! Her sweet scent wafts to me on the breeze. Mayhap I shall call upon her now_. The bear rolled onto its paws and lumbered away, shrinking in size as it walked until it was the size of a normal bear. _I accept thy command_, it said over its shoulder as it disappeared into the night.

Trowa watched the great spirit walk away. "That was pretty easy."

"Great spirits are much easier to handle than lesser spirits," the staff said. "Sprites are the worst."

"Heero won't be glad to hear that," Trowa said with a chuckle. Then he yawned. "It's bedtime. Now look, I'll take you into the room with me and Catherine, but if I hear one remark that makes me think you're checking her out, you'll spend the rest of the visit in the closet. Understand?"

"Yes, master," the staff answered mournfully, "but she really is quite the prettiest maiden here."

"Deal with it."


	5. Damn Sprites!

Chapter 5: Damn Sprites!

Heero would never consciously admit that he kind of missed the other guys, but he did note that it seemed a little quiet. But he wasn't really thinking about that, because at the moment he was busily hacking into the L1 Colony central computer to look for evidence of rebellion.

This really is his idea of a vacation.

He'd been wandering around the Colony for two days, getting a feel for the station. Heero could always tell when the natives were getting restless. Even when everyone seemed to be happily going about their business, there would be this undertone of disquiet that always gave the rebels away. To anyone else, it would seem like there was nothing going on, but Heero was suspicious. There was just something in the air.

So he broke into an unoccupied government office in the Central Administration building and started hacking.

"These people," Heero muttered, "need to instruct their employees on choosing passwords. This is way too easy."

He rooted through files, looking for the telltale signs of rebels at work. As usual, he found stuff. He collected information carefully, both to hide the traces of his activity and to prepare a report for Lady Une.

Quite suddenly, the terminal lost power.

"What the hell!" Heero stuck his head under the desk to see if he had knocked something loose. A little grey face peered back at him. "Shit!" Heero leaped backward, knocking the chair over.

A sprite crawled out from under the desk and grinned at him impishly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Heero demanded angrily. "And quit messing with my terminal. Turn the power back on!"

The sprite made a face at him. "The Man with Many Faces still doesn't ask nicely!" it chirped.

Heero reached for his gun.

The sprite ducked back under the desk.

Heero groaned. "I'm s…s…sorry," he finally creaked out. He took his hand away from his gun. "Will you please turn the power back on?"

The sprite peeked out. Heero held his hands up. The sprite came all the way out and grinned at him again.

"The Man with Many Faces came to a new place. We have never been here before."

Heero righted the chair and sat down. "Really? Why not? Haven't you marked anyone who came out into space before?"

"Where is space?"

"Away from the Earth."

The sprite blinked at him in confusion.

"Yeah, whatever," Heero muttered. He pointed at the terminal. "Can you turn it back on now, please? I was right in the middle of something."

The terminal beeped and the screen glowed back to life.

"Thank you. Now can you go bother someone else while I finish?"

"We like the Man with Many Faces. Other people are boring. The Man with Many Faces does interesting things."

"Maybe you haven't marked enough people."

The sprite tipped its head to one side and giggled.

Heero rolled the chair forward. "Scoot. I need to get back to work."

The sprite stepped aside and then stood on tiptoe, gripping the edge of the desk with its little hands. "This is strange work."

"I'm just keeping the universe safe for mankind."

"And sprites?"

Heero chuckled. "Yeah, and sprites. So quiet now and let me finish."

The sprite remained at his elbow and watched Heero type. Heero finished generating his report and copied it onto a recording disk. Then he opened a secure channel and called Lady Une.

"Preventer HQ, this is Preventer Zero."

"_Preventer Zero, report._"

"Preventer HQ, I have information on possible rebel activity on L1."

"_Is trouble imminent?_"

"No, I think we have a few months."

"_Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?_"

Heero frowned. "Do you want the information or not?"

"_Of course. Ready to receive download._"

"Thank you." Heero started the download and glanced down at the sprite. It was watching the screen with bright green eyes. "Is this making any sense to you?"

The sprite looked up at him and blinked. "Where does the voice come from?"

"Lady Une is on Earth. Her voice is coming from the radio."

The sprite stared at him blankly.

"_Download received. Now go on vacation._"

"I am on vacation."

"_Yeah, right. By the way, Vice Minister Darlian is on her way to L1. She may be there already. She seems to have an uncanny knack for figuring out where you are. That day you guys were missing, she barged into my office insisting you were dead because she couldn't 'feel' you. She's got some kind of built in Heero Sensor Tracking System._"

"Shit."

"_Have a nice vacation._" Lady Une broke the connection.

"Like that's gonna happen now," Heero grumbled. He stared morosely at the screen. "I gotta find a place to hide." He looked at the sprite. "You should go home now. I don't want to have to explain what you are if Relena finds me."

The sprite giggled and darted back under the desk. Heero looked under the desk, but the sprite was gone.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Heero left the Administration building as boldly as if he legitimately worked there.

Heero hated the feeling of being watched. The sprites never gave him that feeling, but the mere idea of Relena being on the same Colony had him looking over his shoulder every other minute.

"This is stupid!"

Heero fiddled with his armband, eyeing the passing people. He picked out a likely looking fellow whose general height and build matched his own, slipped into a nearby alley and twisted the armband. With a faint sense of relief, he continued down the street looking like someone else.

He hadn't gone two blocks when a crowd slowed him down near the old Alliance Headquarters. A limousine was pulling up out front and people began talking excitedly as none other than Vice Minister Relena Darlian exited the vehicle.

Heero stopped in his tracks. "Damn it all to hell!" he muttered under his breath.

The crowd parted to let Relena through, but she walked slowly, her eyes examining the people. Heero had to suppress the urge to back up. He felt something tugging on his shirt and looked down. A sprite stood beside him, one little hand gripping a fold of his shirt, the other pointing up at him. It had a wide grin on its face and its glowing green eyes were sparkling.

"That's not what you look like, Man with Many Faces!" it tittered.

Heero felt the armband twisting around his arm on its own just as Relena's eyes swept in his direction. "Oh, crap!"

Relena saw him and her face lit up. Heero immediately darted away.

"Heero!" Relena cried.

Heero turned up the first alley he passed and ran for his life, swearing all the way in half a dozen languages. Green eyes glowed at him from every dark crevice he passed and tittering laughter echoed at him from all sides.

"Meddling little buggers!" he growled. "This is not funny!"

The sprites clearly disagreed.

"Go back to Earth!"

Heero ran until he was well into one of the more poorly maintained sections of the space station. While station integrity was never allowed to deteriorate to dangerous levels, internal appearance was not always a high-priority item on the mechanics' schedules. The residential areas where the laborers lived resembled the slums in Earth cities. It always amused Heero that mankind had brought class inequities into the Colonies, but right now he was more interested in the fact that parts of the slum were uninhabited. He went to ground in the basement of a rundown building that had a sign out front indicating it was slated for reconstruction.

Some squatter had painted 'Welcome' in bright blue letters across the 'No Trespassing' sign and the fence intended to keep people out had more holes in it than cheesecloth.

No one appeared to be living in the basement at the moment, so Heero took up residence.

"How am I supposed to hunt for rebels if I've gotta hide from that damn woman!" Heero flopped down on an old mattress that some previous squatter had left and stared at the ceiling. He could just imagine what Duo would say: _There's no one around and nothing to do. Let's get naked!_ At this particular moment, Heero was ready to concede the validity of that logic.

"How does she always find me?" he grumbled. "She's as bad as the sprites!"

Heero stayed in the basement until hunger and thirst could no longer be ignored, and then he crept out during station night, sticking to the shadows like a very large rat. Woe betide the person who interfered with his quest for nourishment. He was armed and extremely irritated.

He ended up at a coffee bar, munching pastries and sipping espresso while he watched the news on the bar's video screen. The news was mostly about Vice Minister Darlian's unexpected visit and what it might mean. Heero scowled at Relena's image on the screen. He didn't want to think about Relena, especially now that he was armed, annoyed and wired on caffeine and sugar.

There were four other people in the bar: another loner like Heero; a young couple sitting close together; and the barrista, who appeared to be sleeping until someone sauntered up to the bar to place an order.

The loner, a jittery young man who probably should not have been drinking espresso at three in the morning, judging from the way his hands were shaking, kept talking back to the video screen.

"Peace is a pipe dream!" he cried out. "Queen Relena is promoting a fantasy!"

"She's not Queen anymore," Heero muttered.

"What's that!" the loner exclaimed. "Vice Minister? Queen? What difference does it make? She still thinks she rules us! But peace will never last!" He gulped the last of his espresso and skittered over to the bar for a refill. The barrista came alive just long enough to fill his cup and then slumped back down onto the bar. The man scurried over to Heero's table and plopped down in an empty chair. "You look like a man of the world. You know what I'm talking about." He took a quick gulp from his cup. Heero wondered how he avoided scalding the inside of his mouth. The man pointed a shaking finger at Heero and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "There're folks putting together an army right now. They got mobile suits; maybe even Gundams! There'll be fighting for sure, you mark my words! No one's safe anywhere." He gestured wildly at the screen. "Queen Relena's just inviting rebellion by coming here. We don't need her telling us what to do." The man emptied his cup in a quick gulp and staggered back to the bar for more. "Just wait and see!" he exclaimed, while the zombie-like barrista filled his cup again.

Heero glanced at the young couple. Although they were cuddled together appropriately, their eyes were following the other man as he flitted about the room, gesturing and talking wildly about the coming uprising. Finally, the young woman shifted slightly and spoke.

"You shouldn't talk like that," she said calmly. "You'll frighten people. Nobody wants war."

"Yeah," her companion agreed. "You should shut up."

The loner turned to stare at the couple and his eyes suddenly went round. "You!" he exclaimed in a shaking voice. He backed up abruptly and tripped over a chair, landing on his butt.

Without a word, Heero pulled his gun, walked over to the young couple and clubbed them unconscious. He pointed the gun at the suddenly wide awake barrista. "You didn't see anything!" The barrista nodded vigorously. Heero went over to the loner, grabbed him by an arm and dragged him to his feet. "Come with me."

"Where are you taking me?"

"To Vice Minister Darlian, and you better not piss me off, because I'm already ticked that I have to go see her because of you. Jerk!"

"W…Why! What did I do?"

"You know something, so now you can tell the authorities all about it. And shut up! I don't need you conscious, you know."

The man sagged in Heero's grip and offered no resistance as he was dragged through the dark streets to Alliance Headquarters. A guard out front came to attention as they approached.

"I need to see Vice Minister Darlian!"

The guard lifted a skeptical eyebrow. "I don't think so." Then his mouth fell open as he found himself staring down the barrel of Heero's gun.

"Just tell her Heero Yuy wants to drop something off."

The guard fumbled for his communicator. "There's some guy here named Heero Yuy to see Vice Minister Darlian." A surprised look crossed his face. "At once, Sir!" he barked into the communicator." Come with me," he said to Heero, and led the way inside.

The guard took them up to the second floor and let them into an office. "The Vice Minister will be right here." He stepped out and closed the door.

Heero shoved his prisoner into a chair. "Sit there and keep shutting up."

The man sank into the chair like a pile of wet laundry. His face was pasty white and he was exhibiting facial ticks, in addition to his shaking hands.

They didn't have to wait long. Relena barged into the office barely five minutes later, showing every sign of just having thrown on whatever clothes were handy. Her usually neat hair was in a rather mussed braid hanging over one shoulder.

"Heero! I'm so glad you're here!" she exclaimed. "I thought I saw you earlier, but…" She frowned at him unhappily.

"It wasn't me," Heero said brusquely. He pointed at the man in the chair. "This fellow has information about possible rebel activity here on L1. You should have him thoroughly interrogated."

The man moaned faintly.

Relena looked at him. "Who is he?"

"Don't know. Don't care. Pack him off to Preventer HQ and let Une deal with him. I'm on vacation."

Relena looked back at Heero. "All right, I'll take care of it. But now that you're here, perhaps you'd like to stay?"

Heero paled. "Ah, no thank you, Vice Minister. I have other plans."

"It's the middle of the night." Relena stepped closer to him. "It's been so long since we talked. We could just sit and have a cup of coffee together."

"I've, ah, already had enough caffeine today…"

"Herbal tea, then." Relena stepped right up to him and looked into his eyes. "There's so much I want to talk to you about."

Heero stepped back. "Some other time, perhaps."

"That's what you always say." She gripped his shoulder. "I want to talk now. How can we get closer if we never talk?"

Heero swallowed. "Um… Well…"

A sprite appeared next to Relena. It grinned wickedly at Heero and opened its mouth wide, revealing little sharp teeth. It leaned toward Relena's hand.

"No! Don't!" Heero shouted. He grabbed Relena and shoved her away from the sprite. He jumped between them and turned on the sprite. "Don't you dare mark her! Get the hell out right now!"

The sprite stuck its tongue out at him.

Heero scrubbed a hand over his face. "Please do not mark Miss Relena. Please go away. You can bother me later."

The sprite grinned broadly and disappeared. Heero turned around and discovered Relena standing right behind him, looking over his shoulder with an astonished expression. The prisoner was hiding his face in trembling hands.

"What was that?" Relena asked breathlessly.

"Nothing!" Heero lied.

Relena just looked at him.

Heero tried to look innocent. "It's not important."

Relena just looked at him.

He tried stern. "It's secret Preventer business."

Relena just looked at him.

He gave up. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"It really is a secret."

"But I suppose all your friends know." She gave him a hurt look. "Why won't you let me be a part of your life?"

"It's too dangerous. You might get hurt."

"From that… creature?" She pointed at where the sprite had been.

"No, they're not dangerous. Just troublesome. But Preventer business is dangerous. You're an important member of the government."

"I'm not that important," she pouted. "You just don't like me."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is." Her lower lip quivered.

He put a hand over his face. "All right. I'll have breakfast with you in the morning, but only if you promise to go back to Earth with this guy."

A big smile spread across Relena's face. "Agreed! But promise this won't be the only time."

Heero suppressed a groan. "I promise." He pointed at the prisoner. "You better lock him up. And maybe sedate him. He's pretty wired."

"I'll have him attended to right now." Relena stepped to the door and issued orders quietly to the guard outside. The guard came in and took the prisoner in tow. When he was gone, Relena turned back to Heero. "Now," she said brightly, "what shall we do until breakfast?"

"Sleep!" Heero said immediately. "I've been up all night."

Relena sighed. "Very well. I'll show you where you can stay." She took him to a room which Heero suspected was just down the hall from hers. "Sleep well," she said and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

"Good night." Heero closed the door and locked it, praying that Relena did not have access to the key. "I'm getting off this station, whether she goes back to Earth or not."


	6. Hildy's Junkyard

Chapter 6: Hildy's Junkyard

"Hey, Hildy!" Duo shouted. "Long time, no see!"

"Duo!" Hildy waved furiously from the doorway of her office across the junkyard. "Gimme a sec!" She disappeared back inside the office.

Duo strolled across the junkyard, examining the myriad items Hildy had accumulated since his last visit. Hildy re-appeared outside the office and raced toward him with a big smile. She got within five paces and leaped into the air with her arms out.

"Duo! Man, it's good to see you!" She landed in Duo's arms and sent him staggering back a few steps.

"Dang, Hildy! Warn a body when you're gonna do something like that!" Duo laughed and swung Hildy around in a circle. "You missed me, huh?"

"I always miss you." Hildy stared earnestly into his eyes. "You're important to me."

Duo grinned nervously. "Uh, yeah, I know." He put her down. "You're important to me, too. Like a sister."

Hildy looped her arm through his and led him toward the office. "Closer than a sister, I thought. What have you been up to anyway?"

"The usual. Fighting evil, promoting peace, that sort of thing."

Hildy eyed him with a slight frown. "I thought you were done with fighting."

"Mankind will never be done with fighting, Hildy." Duo waved his free hand airily. "Some idiot's always going to kick up a fuss and make work for the God of Death." He pointed a thumb at his chest. "And that's me."

"I have never liked it when you call yourself that."

"It's who I am."

Hildy hugged his arm. "Sometimes I think you're hiding part of yourself from me. You aren't, are you? I want to know all about you, just like you know all about me."

"Ah, well, I guess there might always be some things about me…" Duo said vaguely. "I've got a dark past."

"But still…"

"Anyway, it's not important." Duo quickly changed the subject. "You've picked up some cool stuff." He pointed at a jumble of metal that might once have been a mobile suit beam rifle. "Where'd you get that? Does it work?"

Hildy shrugged. "You can pick up all kinds of mobile suit scrap just about anywhere these days. People are always junking stuff. I probably got enough stuff here to put together a couple of mobile suits."

"Oh, really?"

Hildy pinched his arm. "Don't go getting ideas. I don't need trouble. I scrap the parts for re-usable ores and power units."

"But a whole mobile suit…"

"I have no use for that," Hildy said firmly. "I couldn't sell it and I don't want people thinking I'm in league with rebels." She frowned darkly. "I don't need those damn Preventers closing down my business and hauling me off for a few years of questioning."

Duo looked at her in surprise. "Is that what people say about the Preventers?"

"How else do they keep the stations in line, except by clamping down? But it doesn't matter. I keep my nose clean. They got no reason to come bugging me."

They entered the office. Two file cabinets stood against the wall on the right and a neatly organized desk rested just inside the door to the left. Several pictures hung on the back wall, quite a few of them of Duo. In the far left corner was a coffee machine on a table.

"You cleaned the place up!" Duo exclaimed. "The last time I was here, there were papers everywhere."

"Yeah, well, I decided I couldn't use your filing system anymore. I don't seem to have a knack for knowing which scrap of paper represents what bit of junk I just bought or sold."

"Hey! My system worked! Recent stuff was on top and older stuff was toward the bottom."

"Right." Hildy plopped into the chair by the desk and put her feet up. "So how long can you stay?"

Duo leaned against one of the file cabinets. "I have a few days. I thought I might poke around and see what's up."

Hildy smiled. "Well, you can stay at my place. I want to spend as much time together as we can." She stared at him fixedly.

Duo paled. "Ah, sure! I can bunk on your couch."

"You don't have to sleep on the couch, you know."

"Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I just want to get caught up."

"Whatever you say, Duo."

Duo licked his lips. "So, can we get some lunch? It's not too early is it?"

Hildy glanced at her watch. "It's a little early, but I guess we can eat now." She stood up. "You never did like going too long between meals." She looked him up and down. "You never seem to gain weight, though. I can't imagine what you do with it."

"I have a high metabolism."

"I daresay."

They left the junkyard and walked down the road to a nearby diner. They sat in a booth by the window where they could watch people passing by.

"This looks like my sort of place," Duo announced gleefully. "Big portions and low prices!" He ordered two lunches, "Just in case I miss dinner."

Hildy shook her head.

Duo looked out the window. "Hey! It's Heero!" He jumped up and dashed outside, ignoring Hildy's hissed objection. "Heero!" Duo waved. "Over here!"

Heero immediately jogged toward him. "Hey, Duo. I was looking for you."

"You were?"

"Yeah." Heero looked around furtively. "I'm hiding from you-know-who. I figured with your, ah, talent, you can help me avoid her."

"Found you on L1, did she?"

"Yes, damn it all," Heero growled.

Duo flung an arm around his shoulders. "I'm happy to be of service, my friend. Hildy and I were about to have lunch. Come join us."

"Thanks."

Back in the diner, Hildy was not very successfully hiding a frown.

"Hildy, you remember my friend Heero, don't you?"

"Yes, of course," Hildy said with strained politeness. "It's good to see you again." She held out her hand and Heero shook it before sitting down on the opposite bench seat. He slid over to make room for Duo, who squeezed in next to him.

"It looks like Heero's gonna be hanging around the station for a few days, too, Hildy. Do you mind putting him up, too? We won't be in your hair for long."

"Of course I don't mind," Hildy said, although the rather sour expression on her face did not match the forced cheerfulness of her voice.

"Great! Look, here's lunch!"

"You were expecting me?" Heero remarked as three lunches were placed on the table.

"No, these are mine," Duo said, tugging two plates toward him. "You can order your own food."

"What can I get you, hon?" the waitress said with a grin.

"One of those," Heero pointed at one of Duo's plates. "Then he can let me eat this one while he eats the other one and waits for my order."

The waitress winked at him. "Gotcha!"

"Pretty clever," Duo mumbled around a mouthful of food.

Heero didn't answer as he proceeded to make very short work of his food.

Hildy watched them eat with faint dismay.

After lunch, the three of them walked back to the junkyard.

"Do you have plans for the afternoon, Duo?" Hildy asked as they returned. "I'm afraid I've got an appointment to pick up some space salvage this afternoon. If I don't show up, the guy will probably sell it to someone else."

"I don't want to mess up business," Duo said quickly. "You go do what you need to. Heero and I will crash at your place and wait for you."

"I guess that's ok."

They entered the junkyard to find two men waiting in front of the office.

"Come on, Hildy!" one called. "We gotta go if we're gonna be first in line for that salvage."

"Yeah, I know! I'm coming." Hildy turned to Duo. "I'll see you later, ok? I should be back around 19:00." She dug a key out of the pocket of her trousers. "Here's my key. You remember where it is, right?"

"Sure. It's just around the corner."

"Ok, see you in a bit." Hildy hurried to join the two men.

"Let's go," Duo said urgently. He grabbed Heero by the arm and dragged him down the street.

"Hang on!" Heero exclaimed. He pulled his arm free. "What's the hurry?"

"It's before noon still. That means we have nearly seven hours for sex if we hurry."

Heero groaned. "Is that all you think about?"

"It's not my fault! I never knew Hildy had those kinds of thoughts. She kept thinking about it and now I've got sex on the brain."

"That sounds like a standard description of you," Heero said dryly.

"This is no laughing matter!" Duo exclaimed. "I've got a serious problem here and you're just the man to solve it for me. So let's get a move on." He hurried along the street and Heero fell into step with him.

"Can you really think about having sex after eating all that food? I feel more like taking a nap."

"You will not sleep!" Duo declared. "I left Fei three days ago and I haven't been laid since. Three days! Do you think I'm some kind of saint!"

Heero chuckled. "Three days, eh? That's pretty much the same thing as forever to you, isn't it?"

"It might as well be!" Duo groaned. "I'm starting to hurt. Can we pick up the pace a little? Hildy's place is just up ahead, above that video store."

A gated stairway next to the video store allowed access to the apartments above it. Duo quickly unlocked the gate and led the way up to an apartment on the third floor in the back. As soon as they were inside, he locked the door and started stripping off his clothes.

"Right here?" Heero remarked as he also began undressing.

"I'm not gonna do it in her bedroom and this is the only other room. Can you undress a little faster please?" Duo was already naked.

Heero shook his head. "Too bad Fei isn't here. I think you need to be double-teamed."

"If wishes were horses…" Duo grumbled as he dropped down on all fours. "Just start fucking. I'll tell you when to stop."

When Hildy arrived home later that evening, a very satisfied Duo was reclining on the couch watching television. Heero was sleeping on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

"Did you eat dinner?" Hildy asked.

"No, we waited for you," Duo replied. "Besides, you don't have any food."

"I should have known you'd check. There's a Chinese restaurant across the street."

"I remember it."

"Does Heero want to go?"

"Probably." Duo grinned. "He needs to keep his strength up."

"Ok. I'm going to change into something more comfortable." Hildy went into the bedroom and closed the door.

Heero sat up on one elbow. "What could possibly be more comfortable than overalls?"

"And she looks rather fetching in them, too," Duo added with a chuckle.

"She probably wants to dress up for you."

"I hope not. I've always thought of her as more of a buddy."

"You said she was having sexual thoughts."

"I know and it's creeping me out. I've got to figure out how to turn off this mind-reading thing. It's just not a good thing sometimes to know what people are thinking."

"You're just now figuring that out?"

"Cut me some slack, ok?"

Hildy re-appeared from the bedroom. She was wearing a blouse and skirt, and she had put on sandals. Duo's mouth fell open.

"What do you think?" Hildy asked.

"Um… Well…"

"Duo says you look very nice," Heero put in smoothly.

Duo nodded quickly.

Hildy looked from one to the other. Her brow wrinkled with suspicion. Duo leaped up and grabbed her hand.

"Let's go eat!" Duo said brightly. He threw a worried glance at Heero.

Heero grinned wickedly and started to open his mouth.

Duo held up a stern finger. "One word, wiseguy, and you-know-who will be all over you."

Heero promptly clamped his mouth shut and blinked expressionlessly at Duo.

"That's better," Duo grumbled.

Hildy stared at them as Duo hurried her out of the apartment and down the stairs. "Is there something going on I should know about?"

"Nothing you need to know about, Hildy," Duo assured her. "Everything's fine."

"You're not telling me something."

"It's nothing. Really!" Duo rushed across the street to the restaurant. "This smells great doesn't it?"

Hildy continued to stare suspiciously at Duo for a few more minutes, but she relaxed when dinner arrived and they were all talking and laughing by the time they were snapping open their fortune cookies.

"What does your fortune say, Hildy?"

"It says: _Reach for the good that is close at hand_." She dropped the scrap of paper and munched on her cookie. "I guess that means don't expect too much." She glanced at Duo and sighed.

"What about you, Heero?"

Heero tossed his scrap of paper toward Duo. "It says: _Appreciate true friendship_." He lifted an eyebrow at Duo.

Duo grinned. "Ain't that the truth?" He held up his fortune. "Mine say: _Good fortune is coming your way_." He popped his cookie into his mouth and rubbed his hands together gleefully. "I hope it means fortune as in money and not fortune as in luck. I could use money more than luck right now."

Heero frowned. "What about all that stuff you scrounged out of the Wizard's Cave?"

"I left most of that with Roku."

"Quatre will skin you if he finds out."

"It's not that much stuff."

"Oh?"

"Really!"

"Who's Roku?" Hildy asked.

"Quatre's son," Heero said.

"Quatre is one of your other friends, isn't he?" Hildy asked.

"That's right."

"Is the Wizard's Cave a junkyard?"

"You might say that," Duo said with a grin. "I found a few interesting odds and ends there, but I left most of it with Roku. Actually, I did bring something for you. It's part of the reason I dropped by." He fished around in his pocket for a moment and then produced a small gold locket on a fine gold chain. He held it out to her. "The locket opens. You can put something small inside if you want."

"Oh my!" Hildy exclaimed as she accepted the locket. "It's beautiful. Thank you, Duo." She slipped the chain over her head and lifted her hair through. The locket settled just above her cleavage. "It looks really old."

"It is." Duo and Heero exchanged a look.

"I'll take good care of it." Hildy sat back with a smile. "Maybe you noticed that I don't have anything to drink in my apartment either. There's a bar just down the street."

Duo perked up. "A beer or two would hit the spot after this great meal."

"All right," Hildy said. "But if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to stop in the rest room first." She left the table.

"You realize she's just hoping to get you drunk so she can seduce you," Heero remarked.

"I know," Duo agreed mournfully. "The bad thing is: Hildy is one of the only people I know who can drink almost as much as I can. I can drink her under the table, but I'm usually not that far behind her. I might be too drunk to screw later."

"I won't be," Heero said blandly.

Duo glared at him. "If you screw me while I'm not awake to enjoy it, I'll never forgive you."

A hint of a smile touched Heero's lips.

"You're a heartless man."

Hildy returned and the three of them adjourned to the bar.

In the end, all three of them got so drunk that they barely managed to crawl back to Hildy's apartment, where only the concerted effort of all three managed to get the key into the lock in the gate and then again into the door of the apartment.

"Duo," Hildy said with the exaggerated pronunciation of the very drunk who is trying not to sound drunk, "come sleep in the bedroom with me."

Duo, however, staggered to the couch and collapsed. "Too far," he rasped out. "This is good enough."

Heero sprawled on the other end of the couch with his legs flung across Duo's hips. "G'night, Hildy," he muttered and immediately went to sleep.

Duo lifted his head and blinked at Heero blearily for a second. "Damn pansy can't hold his liquor," he complained. Then his head dropped back down on the arm of the couch and he promptly fell asleep.

Hildy regarded Duo wistfully for a moment before stumbling into the bedroom, where she collapsed across the bed with her clothes and shoes still on, although one sandal slowly slipped off her foot and plopped onto the floor.

-o-o-o-o-

_I just had a thought: if a shoe falls in a drunk's apartment, does it make a sound?_

_See you in the next chapter!_


	7. The Winner Resource Satellite

_Loyal Readers, I apologize in advance because this chapter turned into a prolonged introduction to the next chapter! When I started out, there was supposed to be a lot more stuff in this chapter, but I kept not getting around to it and then I hit my minimum chapter length threshold and decided I couldn't put in all the other stuff I had originally planned. So if this chapter seems a little boring, I'm sorry! And I know I've been neglecting Wu-Fei! He was supposed to turn up in this chapter, but then so was every one else and I never got around to that part. So I promise, everyone will be in the next chapter and lots of exciting new things will happen. Pinky-swear!_

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 7: The Winner Resource Satellite

The Winner Resource Satellite loomed large ahead of the shuttle and Quatre slowed down.

"That's my home, Roku. This is where my family lives."

"It's big." Roku, in human form, stared at the satellite. "May I land the shuttle?"

Quatre smiled. "Not this time, dear. It's a little tricky. It's better if you just watch the first time."

"Ok."

Quatre flipped on the radio. "This is Quatre Reberba Winner requesting permission to dock."

"_Welcome home, Quatre! Permission granted!_"

"Thank you." Quatre guided the shuttle through the gaping doors of the hanger bay and executed a neat landing. The doors rumbled shut as he and Roku unlatched their seatbelts. "Now remember, Roku," Quatre said, "try not to change shape in front of anyone, ok? We're trying to keep a few secrets, if possible."

"I'll try, Mama."

Quatre patted him on the head. "Let's go."

Outside in the hanger bay, people were already clustered around the shuttle, smiling and waving.

"Welcome home, Quatre!"

"It's good to see you, Master Quatre!"

"Will you be staying long, Master Quatre?"

Quatre tried valiantly to greet everyone and answer all the questions. But inevitably, someone asked _that_ question:

"Who is that with you, Quatre?"

Quatre swallowed. "Here we go…" he muttered under his breath. Out loud, he said: "This is my son, Roku."

His statement was greeted with a moment of dead silence. And then all hell broke loose. Everyone began talking at once.

"What?"

"He's who?"

"Did you say your son?"

"How could that be?"

"When did you have a son?"

"Who is his mother?"

"No, who is he really?"

"Did you adopt?"

"Where's he from?"

Roku edged around behind Quatre's back and Quatre held up his hands and made shushing motions to try to restore order and quiet.

"Please, everyone!" Quatre called out. "If you would just be quiet for a moment and listen. Please!"

After a few moments, silence fell and everyone stared at Quatre expectantly, or craned their necks to get a better look at Roku, who was now almost entirely hidden behind Quatre's back, with just the edge of his face and one eye peeking out.

"Umm…" Quatre said, a little flustered now that everyone was waiting for him to say something. He spoke in a rush. "Let me just say that Roku is my offspring, I gave birth to him myself, and he received genetic material from multiple fathers." He smiled brightly. "So you see, he's my son."

Among the crowd staring at Quatre and Roku, there were more mouths hanging open than closed.

"Uh…" someone finally managed. "You, uh, gave birth to him… yourself?"

"That's right!" Quatre continued to smile brightly.

"Was it some kind of genetic experiment?"

"Sort of." Quatre reached behind him to put an arm around Roku's shoulders and coax him back out into the open. "It was sort of an accident that just worked out really, really well."

"An accident?"

"Yeah. Say hello to everyone, Roku."

"Hello," Roku said in a small voice. "It's nice to meet everyone."

There was a chorus of "Hello"s and "Nice to meet you"s and Roku favored them with a tentative smile.

"He's really cute!" someone from the back exclaimed.

"He certainly is," said a woman's voice and Quatre turned toward her with a smile.

"Mirabel!" Quatre stepped forward and embraced her. "Roku, this is one of my sisters."

Roku stepped forward and held out his hand. "How do you do, Aunt Mirabel?"

Mirabel shook his hand with a fond smile. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Roku. This is an unexpected and pleasant surprise." She turned to Quatre. "I look forward to learning how you produced a boy this age without anyone knowing." She spoke in a calm, measured voice, but her eyes were alight with curiosity.

Quatre grinned weakly. "Yes, well, it's an interesting story…"

"I imagine so."

"It should probably wait until the whole family is present."

"Of course. You can tell us the story over dinner tonight. I know our sisters will be as eager to learn as I am." Her eyes sparkled.

"No doubt," Quatre agreed faintly.

Quatre and Roku accompanied Mirabel out of the hanger and everyone else went back to whatever they had been doing before.

"How long will you be staying, Quatre?" asked Mirabel.

"I have about a week before I need to get back to work."

"Oh? Will Roku be staying here with us?"

"Ah, no," Quatre said quickly. "I prefer keeping Roku with me."

Mirabel was surprised. "But isn't your work rather dangerous for a boy his age? How old is Roku, anyway?"

"Roku is nine years old. And he can take care of himself very well. These days, I mostly just ensure peace. That's not very dangerous."

Mirabel lifted a skeptical eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe." But she was interrupted from pressing the point any further by the arrival of more sisters. Quatre began introducing them all, but after the first dozen or so, Roku began to look a little dazed.

"Will my aunts be very offended if I don't remember all their names right away?" Roku whispered to Quatre. "There sure are a lot of them."

"I don't think so," Quatre whispered back. "Just call them Auntie, or something like that, when you're not sure."

"Ok."

At dinner though, Mirabel was clearly determined to get to the bottom of Roku's creation and none of Quatre's other sisters seemed inclined to interrupt her. They were all clearly very curious.

"So," said Mirabel, "I believe I heard you say you gave birth to Roku yourself. How did you manage that? And given that you were clearly not pregnant when I last saw you a month ago, how is it that he's nine years old now? I shouldn't need to point out that he's over half your age."

"Um, well, you see," Quatre stammered, "there were some special circumstances around his birth…"

"I can imagine."

"And so, in the end, he ended up like this." Quatre produced a sickly grin.

Twenty-nine pairs of eyes stared at him. No one was buying it.

"Perhaps a little more detail would help," Mirabel suggested pointedly.

Roku was happily stuffing food into his mouth. "Tell them about when you were a girl, Mama."

"Mama?" several of his sisters echoed.

"You were a girl?" Mirabel questioned.

Quatre hung his head. "Only for a few days," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I was only a girl for a few days," Quatre repeated more loudly. "But during that time, I, ah, became pregnant and, ah, gave birth to Roku later on."

"How interesting." Mirabel looked around at her sisters. "I've heard of some amphibian species that can change sex in the presence of a single sex environment, but I've never heard of that happening with humans."

"It wasn't like that!" Quatre exclaimed hastily. "I had… well… an accident and…" he trailed off.

"A sex-changing accident?"

Quatre put a hand over his face.

"Mama, you're making it sound really weird."

"Out of the mouths of babes…" someone muttered.

"Ok! Ok!" Quatre exclaimed. "It did start with an accident, but I can't explain that part. We crashed and somehow traveled through time. We ended up in Arthurian England and I studied magic with Merlin. I was trying a new spell and accidentally turned myself into a woman. That's the whole truth."

The sisters exchanged glances.

"All right," Mirabel said. "There are clearly some plausibility gaps here, but we'll overlook them for now. I also think I heard you say that Roku had multiple genetic fathers."

Quatre flushed. "Oh, that! Yes, well, as to that…" he trailed off again.

One of his sisters leaned forward. "Do you mean to say you had intercourse with multiple partners in the few days you were a woman?"

Another sister spoke up. "But having multiple partners does not result in multiple genetic contributors."

"That's true," said a third sister.

"I agree," said a fourth. "Some kind of recombinant reproduction would have to occur."

"Precisely!" said the second sister.

"That normally doesn't happen in the human womb," said the fourth.

"No, but the magic might have played into it somehow."

"Assuming one chooses to believe in magic."

"Our little brother was pregnant."

"Good point."

"So, assuming some kind of magical contribution and multiple partners, a human child could have multiple genetic fathers."

Everyone looked at Quatre again.

"So who were they?"

"What?" Quatre, feeling panicked, had lost the thread of the conversation.

"Roku's fathers? Were they anyone we know, or were they men from the past?"

"Oh, lord," Quatre moaned. He hid his face in his hands.

Roku piped up again. "I have four papas: Papa Heero, Papa Duo, Papa Trowa and Papa Wu-Fei."

"Aren't those your four fellow Gundam pilots?" Mirabel asked.

Quatre nodded without taking his face out of his hands.

"So," continued Mirabel, "if you became a woman unintentionally, why did you decide to have a child? Or was that also unintentional?" She smiled sweetly at Roku to take any hurt out of her question.

"Don't ask me that!" Quatre mumbled into his hands.

"Oh dear!" someone exclaimed. "Were you violated?"

"Papa Duo says Mama was a very pretty woman," Roku volunteered. "He said they all liked Mama very much that way."

"Sounds like they liked him really well!" someone whispered loudly and snickered.

Quatre groaned.

"But wait a minute," another sister spoke up. "Didn't you say you were a woman for just a few days? When was Roku born?"

"It took less time than normal." Quatre dropped his hands onto the table in resignation. "We used magic to accelerate the pregnancy. A side-effect of the magic caused Roku to age unusually fast for the first few months. He's really about seven months old."

"Seven months!"

"That's amazing!"

"Can we take a genetic sample?"

"No experiments!" Quatre declared sharply.

"But…"

"Absolutely not! No one's doing any experiments on my little boy. Period." Quatre glared around the table.

Roku leaned over to Mirabel and spoke softly. "Mama's a little protective. It's better not to argue. He turns people into stuff when he gets angry."

Mirabel stared at him. "Excuse me?"

Quatre groaned again. "Roku, what did I say about keeping a few secrets?"

"You said I shouldn't change shape."

Quatre put his hands over his face again. "This is even worse than the Maganac base."

"Roku can change shape?"

"Yes, but Mama said I shouldn't do it in front of people."

"What do you change into?"

"A tiger, mostly. I was born a tiger." Roku stuffed more food into his mouth.

Everyone stared at him and then looked at Quatre.

"He was born a tiger?" Mirabel questioned. "How did you manage that?"

Quatre wondered why he had never learned a teleportation spell, so he could escape all those curious, staring eyes. "I wasn't about to give birth on my own," he mumbled. "It hurt. So, I… well… I changed into a tiger because I thought it would be easier, and it was, but then Roku came out as a tiger cub, so he tends to stay in that form." Quatre clamped his mouth shut, determined not to say any more.

Mirabel turned to Roku. "Can you show us?"

"Sure." Roku shifted into his tiger form.

Everyone gasped in surprise and amazement.

"Why not?" Quatre muttered. "Why not let all the cats out of the bag?"

"But Quatre," one of his sisters said, "doesn't that mean you can change shape, too?"

"Yes, but I only do it when I need to."

"So you can really do magic?"

"I told you, I studied with Merlin for several months. I can do all kinds of stuff."

"I do hope you'll show us something while you're here," Mirabel said with gentle encouragement. "I can understand why you were trying to keep this a secret, but we're family. Family shouldn't have secrets from each other."

"At this rate," Quatre said with a mournful sigh, "I won't have any secrets and you'll likely see a whole lot more than you bargained for."

"Just don't turn anyone into anything, Mama," Roku admonished with his usual sweetness. "Papa Trowa gets upset when you do that."

Quatre laughed. "I'll be good, Roku. But you had better change back before someone else sees you. My sisters are one thing, but we have lots of employees here on the station and they don't really need to know anything."

"Ok." Roku shifted back into human form.

"That's fascinating!" Mirabel exclaimed. "What happens to your clothes?"

Roku proceeded to explain the technical details of shape-changing, although he couldn't really explain how it worked, just that it did. After that, there were lots of questions about magic in general and life in Arthurian times. They talked until Roku was gaping huge yawns and it was clearly time for him to go to bed.

Quatre took Roku to the room he lived in when he was on the station.

"You're a lot cleaner than normal after dinner," Quatre noted.

"I was being neat!" Roku proclaimed proudly. "I want my aunts to like me."

Quatre smiled. "Roku, everyone likes you, even when you coat yourself with food at meals."

Roku giggled and then he yawned again. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"Well, now that my sisters know everything, I suspect we will end up showing off our talents."

"I'm sorry I didn't keep secrets better, Mama."

"That's ok, sweetie. I don't think I'm very good at it either. But I suppose there's something to be said for having no real skill in lying."

"One should always tell the truth," Roku said gravely.

"A good rule to live by, Roku. Let's go to bed."

"Ok. Good night, Mama."

"Good night, Roku."


	8. Reunion!

Chapter 8: Reunion!

Quatre stuck his head into the lounge where a dozen or so of his sisters were relaxing.

"Have any of you seen Roku?" Quatre inquired.

"Oh, he's right here," Mirabel replied. She pointed at a pretty little girl with long black hair hanging loose around her shoulders.

The little girl bore a strong resemblance to Roku. She grinned at Quatre.

"What the…!" Quatre gasped

"Now don't get upset, Quatre!" Mirabel said. "We were just talking about how we missed having little sisters to look after, now that we're all grown, and how if Roku were a girl we could have fun doing his hair like we used to do with each other, and he just changed sexes for us." She smiled affectionately at Roku. "He's such a sweet child."

Quatre stared. "Uh, yeah, I guess so…"

"Don't worry, Mama," Roku said. "I can change back when I want to. It's easy."

Quatre shook his head. "I just don't understand how this comes so easily to you. I spent months studying and practicing, and you just seem to know how to do things."

Roku shrugged. "I don't know either. But when I think about something, I just know how to do it, that's all."

"No wonder Merlin was afraid of you."

"Merlin was afraid of Roku?" Mirabel exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah. He said Roku was a natural wizard and that made him very dangerous."

"Roku? Dangerous?" Mirabel snorted. "The man didn't know what he was talking about."

"Well, in his defense," said Quatre, "he was presented with a talking tiger whose mother was a man and who was born knowing how to do magic. Under the circumstances, I think he can be forgiven for being concerned."

"Maybe."

"Anyway, Roku, I wanted to let you know: I just got word that Papa Duo and Papa Heero are on their way here. Seems like Heero's still trying to hide out from Vice Minister Darlian and she doesn't have any reason to drop in here like she does the colonies. He was hiding out with Duo and Hildy, but she found him. They should arrive in an hour or so."

"Oh goody!" Roku clapped her hands and giggled. "I miss my Papas." She tipped her head to one side and smiled.

Quatre smiled back. "You sure are a cute little girl. But I think you better pick one sex and stick with it or you're going to confuse a lot of people."

"It's kind of fun being a girl."

"Only because you haven't hit puberty!" one sister quipped. The others all laughed.

Roku laughed too. "Ok. How's this?" He shimmered into his tiger form and sat neatly with his tail around his feet.

Two of Quatre's sisters immediately knelt down next to him to stroke his fur.

"Oh, you're so cute!" they squealed. "Your fur is so soft."

Roku purred happily, flopped over onto his side and rolled onto his back so they could reach his belly.

"Now you've done it!" Quatre said with a grin. "He loves having his belly rubbed."

The two women giggled and rubbed his belly. Roku waggled his paws.

"You are going to get so spoiled," Quatre groaned. "I'll let you know when Duo and Heero arrive."

"Ok," Roku purred with his eyes closed and a contented smile on his face.

Just over an hour later, Quatre, Roku and a few of Quatre's sisters met Heero and Duo in the hanger. The two young men had hitched a ride on a supply shuttle, so everyone had to vacate the hanger quickly so the shuttle could be unloaded.

Duo scooped Roku up in his arms on the way out. "Hey scamp! I missed you. What have you been up to?"

Roku, in human form because they were in public, kissed Duo on the cheek. "I missed you too, Papa Duo! Mama and I have been doing all kinds of stuff. We went to the desert to meet Mama's friends and I got to fly the plane, but Mama wouldn't let me land it, and I played in the desert and caught all kinds of stuff, but I let it go so I can't show you, and Mama said I could drive a mobile suit, so I did and made really big footprints, but I was careful not to step on anything. The food was really good and it was spicy, but I liked it. We stayed there for a whole week almost and then we came here, and oh, Mama let me fly the shuttle a little on the way. It's different from flying the plane but really fun. So then we kind of told my aunties all about everything, so Mama and I have been showing them how we can do stuff and they think it's really neat."

Duo stared. "You kind of told your aunties everything?" He looked at Quatre. "How much everything?"

"Umm…" Quatre mumbled. "Pretty much all of it."

"ALL of it?"

Quatre flushed. "About Roku, anyway. It's not that big a deal."

"You need not be concerned, Mr. Maxwell," Mirabel said. "You may rely on our discretion. You know that most of us are scientists or physicians and we are fascinated by the abilities that Quatre and Roku demonstrate."

Duo squinted at her for a moment and then looked relieved. "I guess it's ok." He leaned toward Heero and whispered, "Our secrets are still in the bag, but you better keep those sprites under control."

Heero frowned but said nothing.

"Papa Duo, do you want your stuff back?"

Duo grinned sheepishly at Quatre's suspicious stare. "No, Roku, that's ok. I'll get it from you later. Is it lunch time yet? I'm hungry."

"Me, too!" Roku immediately agreed.

"You two are always hungry," Quatre said.

"It's been hours since breakfast!" Duo complained.

"We had a snack on the shuttle," Heero remarked.

"That was a while ago, too."

"Yeah, a good hour, at least."

"That's a long time. And it was a small snack."

Heero rolled his eyes.

Mirabel smiled. "They'll be serving lunch to the workers in the mess hall in about an hour, but we have our own kitchen if you'd like to make something right now."

"We could make a snack now and then have lunch in the mess hall," Roku said. "I like eating in the mess hall. They have pudding!" His eyes sparkled. "I like pudding, especially chocolate."

"Good idea, Roku," said Duo. "A snack and then lunch sounds perfect to me." He winked at Quatre and tickled Roku's side. "You don't get the pudding all over your face do you?"

"Only a little."

"Oh, yeah!" Quatre said with an exaggerated nod. "There are large patches of skin still showing when he's finished."

"Skin?" Heero questioned.

Roku nodded gravely. "I stay a little boy when I'm where the workers can see me."

"Probably a good idea."

"That's what Mama said."

Duo put Roku down. "If you'll just show me the way to the kitchen, Miss Winner, Roku and I can whip up a little something for a snack to tide us over till lunch time."

"Of course, Mr. Maxwell. Come this way."

"Call me Duo. I get gray hairs every time someone calls me Mister."

Mirabel chuckled. "Very well, Duo."

Mirabel stayed to help Duo and Roku make their snack, although she mostly just watched. She sat with Heero and Quatre at the large kitchen table while Duo and Roku ate.

"They call that a snack?" Mirabel whispered to Quatre.

"It's dangerous to leave them alone with food," Quatre whispered back. "The rest of us would starve."

"I think you're right." She turned to Heero. "Did you also enjoy your sojourn in the past, Mr. Yuy?"

"Call me Heero. And yes, it was quite interesting."

She studied him curiously. "Did you acquire any, ah, skills, like Quatre did?"

Heero shrugged. "I learned to joust."

"Don't be so modest, Heero!" Duo interrupted. "Tell her how you were knighted by King Arthur himself. We should all be calling him Sir Heero."

Mirabel's eyes widened. "Really? That's amazing! You must be very skilled, Heero."

"It's fighting," Duo said. "There's nothing Heero's not good at when it comes to fighting."

"But to be knighted by King Arthur! That's not something any other living person can claim."

"That's true," Heero said.

"Do you want to see his armor?" Roku asked.

Quatre stared. "You have Heero's armor?"

"Sure. I put it in my storage place before we left. I thought Papa Heero would want to keep it. It was made for him after all."

Heero looked genuinely surprised. "That was very thoughtful of you, Roku. I did sort of regret leaving it behind."

"I would very much like to see it later," Mirabel said excitedly. "This is absolutely fascinating." Then she paused. "What do you mean by storage place?"

"Oh, crap!" Quatre exclaimed.

"Oops!" said Roku. "I forgot we hadn't mentioned that."

"It's all right, Roku. It was bound to come out sooner or later."

Mirabel looked from one to the other. "So what is it?"

"Um… It's kind of hard to explain," Quatre began.

"It's where I put stuff," Roku said. He reached under his left arm and pulled out a book. "Papa Duo bought me this book when we were on the Quest."

Mirabel's eyes went wide. "Where did you get that from?"

"My storage place."

"And where is that, exactly?"

"Well…"

"It's inter-dimensional," Quatre explained. "We're not really sure where it is or how big it is, but it's always attached to Roku and stuff put in it is weightless. It also might be outside of time, because food doesn't spoil there either."

Mirabel's mouth fell open. "H… how…" she stammered.

"We don't know how he does it."

"I learned it from Papa Heero."

Heero held up his hands. "Don't look at me. I just like to keep a few spare knives hidden about my person. Roku was the one who started storing away anything he found laying about."

"S… So what all do you have in there?" Mirabel asked in astonishment.

"You don't want to know," Duo said quickly.

"You mean you don't want me to know what he's lugging around for you," Quatre grumbled with a frown.

"I have all kinds of stuff," Roku said cheerfully. "Some of it's mine; some of it's Papa Duo's; I have Papa Heero's armor; there's some food; I still have that cute little wine jug from when we had the picnic when Papa Heero and Papa Wu-Fei killed all those men; there are a couple of books; some charcoal and slate from my lessons; some coins; my spare clothes; a couple of ribbons for my hair and my brush; I have an extra bottle of oil for Papa Wu-Fei's back; I have the jar with Papa Wu-Fei's scales from when he shed the first time; I have the cloak that I wear when I have to be a boy and it's cold; there are some toys; there's a snake skin I found in the desert; and a ball of string."

Mirabel stared.

"He wanted to put a mobile suit in there," Quatre muttered to the others.

Heero pursed his lips and nodded. "Very practical."

"Would it have fit?" Duo asked.

"I think I would have had to shrink it," Roku said.

"Oh, yeah?"

"You're not helping," said Quatre. "I told him no."

Mirabel was opening and closing her mouth without making any noise. Finally, she managed to get something out. "You can shrink a mobile suit?" She looked rather alarmed.

"I think so, but Mama wouldn't let me try."

"That's… That's… amazing."

"Now you know why Merlin was afraid of him," Quatre said.

"Yes, I daresay," Mirabel replied faintly.

Another sister came into the kitchen. "Quatre, one of your friends just called to say he would be arriving shortly. A gentleman named Trowa Barton."

"Trowa's here? I didn't know he was coming."

Duo leaned over and whispered loudly to Heero, "I bet he didn't smile like that when he heard we were coming."

"Trowa is special," Heero replied. He lifted an eyebrow at Quatre.

Quatre stuck his tongue out. "I'm just glad to have a guest with some class," he said archly. "It sounds like he'll arrive just in time for lunch."

"Class AND timing," Duo laughed.

They were indeed in the mess hall having lunch when Trowa arrived.

"Hello, everyone," Trowa said as he joined them. "It's good to see you, although I didn't know Heero and Duo would be here."

"We just arrived ourselves," Duo replied. He lowered his voice. "We're hiding out from Relena. She keeps tracking Heero down."

Heero groaned.

"That woman has some kind of Heero-radar," Trowa laughed. "She must have marked him, like the sprites."

"That's not funny," Heero growled.

"Did you have a good time at the circus?" Quatre asked.

"Yes, I did. It was good to see Catherine again." He smiled at Quatre. "I missed you and Roku, though." He patted Roku on the head. "How have you been?"

"I've been having lots of fun, Papa Trowa."

"Good." Trowa looked pointedly at Quatre. "Do you have time to talk privately later? There's something I want to get caught up on."

Duo, who unfortunately was talking a drink at this particular moment, nearly choked. "Can you keep those thoughts inside your own head?" he spluttered. "That image was just way too graphic."

Trowa grinned. "Sorry!"

"I think you better spend some time with me this afternoon, Roku," Duo continued. "I get the distinct impression..." he dabbed at his wet shirt with a napkin, "that your Mama and Papa Trowa want to be alone."

"Ok."

Duo looked around at the workers eating at neighboring tables. "Maybe we can get a game of some kind going. Dice or cards or something."

Quatre sighed. "Please do not fleece my family's employees of all their hard-earned cash."

"Me? Fleece?" Duo put on an innocent expression which fooled no one. He held up one hand and put the other over his heart. "I promise to use nothing but my native abilities while engaging in games of chance with others."

Quatre closed his eyes and shook his head mournfully. "I should probably not allow this."

"Trust me, Quatre! It'll be fine."

"Now I know I should not allow this."

"Don't worry about it, Quatre," Trowa said. "How much can he win in one afternoon?" He leaned forward and touched Quatre's arm. "I really would like to see you alone now."

"I'm abdicating my responsibility to my employees," Quatre moaned. He stood up. "Let's go, Trowa. I don't want to see this."

That night at dinner, Quatre hung his head guiltily and refused to meet the eyes of the many employees who were slumped dejectedly over their dinner trays, casting unhappy glances in Duo's direction. Duo, on the other hand, was happily devouring his food, chuckling gleefully between mouthfuls.

"How could I let this happen?" Quatre groaned. "Did anyone manage to hold onto any of their salary?"

"I think some people did, Mama. I made Papa Duo switch to dice after a couple of hours."

"The damage was already done, though," Heero added.

"Can I help it if people think about their cards when they look at them?"

"Reading minds during a card game is cheating!" Quatre declared.

Duo blinked innocently at him. "I tried not to."

"Oh, that makes it all better! I should make you return all of it before someone starts a riot."

"Tell you what," said Duo. "I'll let them win some of it back from me after dinner."

Quatre glared at him. "You better let them win most of it back."

"Ok! Ok! Geez!"

"I think I'll come watch you."

"Do you have to?" Trowa interrupted. "I was hoping we could continue our conversation from this afternoon."

"Conversation?" Duo questioned with a raised eyebrow. "That's a new word for it. But speaking of that, maybe Heero and I could have a conversation, too, before I let people win their money back."

Heero started. "How did I get involved in this discussion?"

"You didn't sneak off soon enough, Papa Heero."

"I think you're right."

"I think I'll go visit Aunt Mirabel while the rest of you are being naughty." Roku slipped out of his seat and trotted over to where Mirabel was sitting. She held out her arms to him and he climbed into her lap.

"You don't suppose he'll mention anything?" Duo asked nervously.

"No. I don't so," Quatre said. He frowned at Duo again. "But you better not be trying to avoid returning their money by dallying with Heero."

"No, sir!" Duo saluted and jumped to his feet. "Just a quickie and I'll get right back to the reverse gambling. I promise."

"A quickie?" Heero sighed. "You may as well not expect anything before morning, Quatre. See you at breakfast." He trailed Duo out of the mess hall.

Trowa took Quatre's hand. "Can we go, too?"

Quatre smiled. "All right."

Duo did not stay with Heero all night, but the gambling did not go quite as planned. In fact, even more people than before were looking unhappy at breakfast and there was a lot of grumbling.

"What the hell did you do, Duo!" Quatre demanded. "You said you were going to let them win their money back!"

"I was trying! Is it my fault if these people suck at dice?"

"Dammit, Duo!"

Mirabel appeared and came to sit at their table. She had a worried look on her face. "Quatre, there is quite a bit of unhappy talk regarding your friend Duo." She favored Duo with an apologetic smile. "How long are your guests planning to stay?"

"Hopefully not too much longer," said a familiar voice and every turned in surprise.

"Papa Wu-Fei!" Roku shouted. He bounded over and leaped into Wu-Fei's arms. "I didn't know you were coming!"

"We just arrived," Wu-Fei replied. He gave Roku a hug and put him down. Sally Po was standing beside Wu-Fei with a big smile and she patted Roku on the head.

"Hey, Sally!" Duo said.

"Hi, Duo. Up to your usual tricks, I see."

Duo grinned sheepishly. "Well…"

"Our arrival appears to be timely," Sally continued. "Lady Une sent us to fetch you. She'd like us all to join Zechs Merquise and Lucretzia Noin on Mars to help with the terra-forming."

"Why us?" Heero demanded.

"Things have gotten rather lively around the space stations since your little… excursion. She's hoping things will calm down if you're out of sight for a while."

"And she also wants to get Relena back on Earth," Wu-Fei added. "There's a rumor she's planning to pay a social call on the Winner family and people are starting to speculate about what that might mean."

Heero went pale. "Oh, no!" He jumped to his feet. "How soon can we leave?"

"If the Winners can spare us some fuel, we can leave for Mars right away."

Heero turned pleadingly to Mirabel. "You have extra fuel, right?" He grabbed Duo's arm. "Duo can pay for it."

"What!" Duo exclaimed.

"Of course," Mirabel said. "We'll be happy to help."

"Good. The sooner we escape the Earth Sphere, the better."

"Do you think Mars will be far enough?" Wu-Fei said dryly.

"I sure as hell hope so!"


	9. Mars Colony

Chapter 9: Mars Colony

"There it is," Wu-Fei announced. "The Red Planet."

"Wow!" Roku exclaimed. "It really is red! That's neat!"

"It doesn't have a breathable atmosphere yet, so the people are still living in domes. You can see the colony just on the horizon there."

"I see it." Roku peered eagerly through the port hole. "There are a lot of domes."

"Yes. They've built several in the past year as more engineers and workers come out to help with the terra-forming. It's a pretty big project."

"What's terra-forming?"

"It's a process where a planet is converted to produce an Earth-like environment. They start by introducing bacteria and microbes into the soil to break down rocks and produce nutrients that will support fungus and lichen. The fungus and lichen produce gases that can be manipulated to form an atmosphere. Over time, they can add more plants as the soil becomes richer and this also helps the atmosphere. The atmosphere will cause the surface of the planet to heat, allowing liquid water to form. It will take a long time to make the surface of Mars habitable for Earth creatures; probably a couple of generations."

"Why are they doing this?"

"To give people an alternative to living in the Colonies."

"But wouldn't they just want to live on the Earth?"

"Some do, but many don't. There is still a lot of animosity between the colonists and Earth from the last two wars."

"Oh." Roku peered out the port hole again. "We're getting closer."

"Yeah, it's about time to strap in." Wu-Fei sat down in the pilot seat and put on his seat belt. He flipped on the intercom. "We're on approach to the Mars Colony. Please strap in for landing."

Sally floated into the cockpit. "Need a co-pilot, or is Roku helping?"

Roku looked over his shoulder. "You can be co-pilot, Miss Sally. I want to look out the window."

"All right." Sally strapped into the co-pilot's seat and Roku settled in one of the passenger seats.

"The domes are very big," Roku said.

Sally nodded. "The bigger domes house public areas, labs and workshops. The smaller domes are residential. That really big dome closest to us is the first one they built. That's where the space port is. We'll enter the complex through there."

Wu-Fei executed a neat landing near the big dome and everyone crowded into the main bay of the shuttle to wait for the pressurized walkway to be extended.

Wu-Fei grinned at Duo. "Note that I did not hit the giant planet."

"That's why we were letting you fly," Heero remarked.

"Oh, shut up!" Duo grumbled.

"Wouldn't Duo have run into one of the moons?" Trowa asked with a straight face.

"Nah," said Quatre. "Too small."

"Hah-hah!" Duo pointedly turned his back on everyone.

"Here comes the walkway," Roku said, peeking out through the access port.

The moving walkway vacuum-sealed itself against the shuttle's side and Wu-Fei opened the hatch. Lucretzia Noin stood inside the walkway's pressure door next to the controls with a big smile on her face.

"It's so good to see all of you!" she cried. "I've been so excited ever since I received word you were coming."

"Noin!" Sally greeted the other woman with a warm hug.

"I'm amazed that Une agreed to spare all of you," Noin said. "The Earth Sphere must be a lot more peaceful than I remember."

Sally grinned. "Oh, there's a bit of a story behind it, Noin."

"We can go into that later," Quatre said quickly. "Why don't we get our things off the shuttle?"

"No problem," Noin said. "Just pile it all in the walkway and I'll have someone bring it to your quarters for you. You don't need to lug it there yourselves."

There was another pressure door at the far end of the walkway. Noin opened it and they entered a reception area inside the main dome.

"This dome is a little utilitarian," Noin explained as they walked through. "Since it was the first one, they were more interested in getting it operational quickly. The other domes have nicer amenities. I've arranged for you to stay in the same dome where Zechs and I live." At Sally's raised eyebrow, she added, a little wistfully, "in separate quarters. It's this way."

The domes were connected by clear tubes, which had separate paths for pedestrians, motorized vehicles and trains. Noin took them to a connecting tube and they boarded a train for Residential Dome Six. The train had windows so the passengers could look out at the planet as they traveled between domes.

"This is cool!" Roku exclaimed. "Do you suppose sprites can live where there is no air, Papa Heero?"

"I think sprites can live wherever they damn well please," Heero grumbled. "I told you how they kept bugging me in the Colonies."

"That was kind of funny," Trowa chuckled. "Especially when they ratted you out to Relena. Do you think they marked her?"

"It would serve her right if they did," Heero said, rather uncharitably. "She can be almost as much of a pest."

"What are sprites?" Noin asked curiously.

"Minor spirits," Trowa replied. "They're rather fond of Heero and they keep turning up wherever he goes. Hopefully, they won't cause too much trouble in the domes."

"Spirits? You mean like ghosts?"

"No, they're natural spirits." He grinned at Heero. "I'm sure you'll see some before we leave."

"I hope not," said Heero.

"Forgive me, Noin," Quatre said. "I failed to introduce my son, Roku. Roku, this is Miss Noin."

"How do you do, Miss Noin?"

"It's nice to meet you, Roku." Noin studied Roku with open curiosity. "I didn't know you had a son, Quatre."

"Well, I…" Quatre began, but Sally interrupted him.

"Oh, this is a really good story, Noin. Make sure you get the whole story and not the condensed version." Sally smiled broadly at the five Gundam pilots. "I still chuckle when I think about it."

Quatre frowned slightly. "It wasn't that funny."

"Maybe to you."

Quatre looked at Wu-Fei. "Just what did you tell her?"

Wu-Fei shook his head. "Don't look at me. It was Duo who spilled it."

Duo tried to look innocent.

Quatre glared at him.

Duo smiled sheepishly. "Well, it is a little funny, if you think about it."

"Then next time, you can have the baby."

"Hey! I wasn't the one who turned into a woman."

"I can fix that."

"Trowa!" Duo pleaded. "I thought you told him not to turn people into stuff!"

"You would make a pretty woman, with all that hair," Trowa said.

"And you probably wouldn't have any trouble getting laid," Heero added.

"I thought you guys were my friends!"

"Maybe Roku would like to have a sibling," Wu-Fei put in.

"You guys suck!" Duo sulked.

Noin listened to this exchange looking completely bewildered, but Sally started to laugh.

"I told you it was pretty funny," Sally said.

"Umm… Oh look! We're here." Noin said brightly.

The train slowed to a stop in a neighboring dome and Noin led the way once more. Outside the train station, the dome arched high over their heads, giving the dome an open, airy feel. The dome panels were transparent, but the bright interior lights caused a lot of reflection, giving the look of a bluish-white sky. Everyone stopped to look.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Noin said proudly. "At night, the lights dim and you can see the stars. It's almost like living outdoors." She pointed ahead of them, like a tour guide. "As you can see, we plant a lot of vegetation in the residential domes to make it more park-like. There are houses, cottages and apartment buildings, so people can live as family groups in accommodations appropriate for the number of people. I wasn't quite sure how you wanted to live, so for now I got you a house. It's the biggest home we build, with four bedrooms. Sally, you can bunk in with me. I have a cottage close by and Zechs lives next door."

"Sounds perfect."

Wu-Fei sniffed and rubbed his nose as they traversed the dome. The path led past verdant green lawns and brightly colored flower beds, with clusters of medium sized trees on either side.

"Is something wrong, Fei?" Duo asked. "Your nose is twitching."

"It's nothing. Something smells a little odd to me, that's all." He sniffed again. And then he sneezed.

Duo regarded him with some alarm. "Stay in front of me if you're going to start sneezing."

Wu-Fei frowned at him. "I'm telling you it's nothing," he repeated. Then he sneezed again. A thin jet of flame shot out of his mouth and set a small shrub with thin grassy fronds on fire. "Oh, crap!"

"Say, Noin," Duo called. "You got a fire extinguisher handy?"

"A what!" Noin exclaimed. She turned around and stared in surprise at the smoldering shrub. "How in the hell…?"

A small helicopter zipped over the trees and came to a halt over the bush, just above their heads. The little machine consisted of little more than an engine, a rotor and a rather large tank. The tank split open and dumped water on the bush, dousing Wu-Fei rather liberally in the process. The fire went out and the helicopter flew away.

Noin stared. "We… ah… the domes have… this… built in fire detection and suppression system." She stared from Wu-Fei to the bush and back again. "The… ah… flying sprinklers use water in the parks and fire retardant elsewhere. Um… How did… the fire start?"

Duo pointed at Wu-Fei.

Sally had a hand over her mouth as she fought to suppress her laughter. She lost. "Hoo-ha!" she howled. "Wu-Fei's a dragon!"

"I am NOT a dragon!" Wu-Fei declared grumpily.

"A what?" Noin asked in confusion.

Sally doubled over and waved a hand helplessly at Wu-Fei. "Show her your scales!"

"I will not!"

"What scales?"

"You may as well get it over with Wu-Fei," Heero said.

"I don't see…" Wu-Fei began and then he sneezed again. The only dry spot on his sleeve began to burn. A flying sprinkler appeared out of nowhere and doused him with water.

This time, Sally wasn't the only one laughing.

"You better do something about that allergy, Wu-Fei," Quatre choked out, "or you'll have a cold on top of it."

"This isn't funny," said Wu-Fei pitifully. "The water's cold."

"Like I said…" Quatre managed before dissolving into fresh gales of laughter.

Duo wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "I'd be glad to help you dry off, Fei, but you gotta do something about that sneezing first."

Sally managed to get herself under control. "I'm sure I can find something to suppress your allergic reaction, Wu-Fei," she said.

"I should have known that you five would be the cause of all this commotion," said an urbane, silky voice, and they all turned to find Zechs Merquise standing just down the path watching them.

Noin seemed tremendously relieved to see him. "Zechs! Good timing." She hurried over to him. "They just arrived."

Sally walked forward more sedately. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Count Merquise." They shook hands.

"Perhaps we should get indoors before you draw more attention to yourselves," Zechs said calmly.

"Good idea," Noin agreed. She still looked rather confused and sounded a little alarmed.

Wu-Fei managed not to sneeze again before they made it into their comfortable new home. Once inside, he heaved a sigh of relief. "Whatever it is, it's outside," he reported.

"It's probably the fertilizer," Zechs said. "We use a special fertilizer in the parks to supplement the Martian soil. I've known other people to react to it, although it usually causes hives, not sneezing."

"That's good to know," Sally said. "The same anti-histamine they use might work on Wu-Fei."

"I'll order some from the pharmacy. The video-phone should be working." Zechs walked over to the phone.

Noin put on a bright smile. "Like I said, the house has four bedrooms. I left instructions about your luggage, so it should be here any time." She turned to Sally. "Shall we go over to my cottage?"

"Sure."

The two women left.

Quatre looked around. "Where's Roku?"

"I think he's exploring the house," Trowa said.

Zechs rejoined them. "Ok, the pharmacy will send some pills over shortly. Hopefully, that will help." He smiled at Wu-Fei. "I'd prefer you didn't set the dome on fire. I look forward to learning how you developed this ability. But for now, I'll let you get settled. We'll meet later and go over your duty assignments."

"Thanks, Zechs."

As the door closed behind Zechs, Roku, in tiger form, came bounding into the room.

"Mama, may I have my own room?"

"Yes, you may, but what are you doing in tiger form, young man?"

"I waited until Count Zechs left. Besides, aren't you going to just tell them everything, like all the other places?"

Quatre sighed. "Probably."

Duo appeared with a towel in each hand. "Hey, Fei, I found the bathroom. The shower's big enough for two. Why don't you let me clean you up?"

"I'm not dirty, just wet."

"But you might have traces of that fertilizer on your skin." Duo grinned. "I think you need to be thoroughly washed, for everyone's safety."

"I hate to say it, but he's probably right, Wu-Fei," said Heero.

Duo grabbed Wu-Fei's arm and dragged him into the hall leading to the back of the house. "Why don't you pick us out a bedroom, Heero? You can help me dry Fei off after his bath." He chuckled gleefully as they disappeared down the hall.

Heero sighed. "I'm going to look for our stuff."

"May I come with you, Papa Heero?"

"Sure."

Heero and Roku left the house.

"Shouldn't you have made him change back?" Trowa asked.

"Why bother?" Quatre sighed in resignation. "Is a shape-changing tiger any worse than a fire-breathing man?"

"Good point." Trowa smiled. "Want to pick out a bedroom?"

Quatre smiled back. "That sounds like a good idea to me."

In the bathroom, Duo rather enthusiastically helped Wu-Fei shed his clothing.

"Oh, wow, your scales have spread!"

"What!" Wu-Fei turned around so he could examine his bare back in the mirror.

"That's really cool!" Duo exclaimed. He slid his hand down Wu-Fei's back and over his butt. "They spread all the way to here. It's weird how they can feel so silky smooth and be firm at the same time. I wonder how far in they go?"

Wu-Fei grabbed Duo's hand before he could slide it any further into the fold of Wu-Fei's butt. "I'm pretty sure the scales don't go that far."

Duo's eyes sparkled. "I can always check later."

"Just keep your hands on the outside for now," Wu-Fei said archly.

"You're so prim sometimes," Duo laughed.

"We're supposed to be taking a shower."

"Right, right!" Duo stripped out of his own clothes and turned on the water. "Oh, that's nice. Get in." Wu-Fei joined him and Duo began soaping him with his bare hands. "How does that feel?"

Wu-Fei smiled with his eyes closed. "I have to admit, you give a good bath. Why don't you scratch a little while you're going over the scales?"

"You're not shedding again, are you?"

"No, it just feels good."

"I still think I should check to see how far those scales spread. I won't use my hands."

"You don't give up."

"I'm only thinking of you, Fei."

"Yeah, right."

"I noticed some bath oil on the counter by the sink. I'll oil your scales for you. Even the ones I can't see."

"I give up."

"Oh, goody! I promise to give all your scales a nice, thorough rubbing."

"You're so thoughtful."

"That's me: Duo Thoughtful Maxwell!"


	10. Mars Terraforming Project

Chapter 10: Mars Terra-forming Project

Trowa walked into the kitchen and looked around with his hands on his hips. He sighed in noisy exasperation.

Roku looked up from his bowl of cereal. Milk dripped from his whiskers. "What's the matter, Papa Trowa?"

"My staff has wandered off. This is what I get for not keeping it straightened."

"Couldn't Papa Duo ask his knife where it is?"

"Good idea. Is he up yet?"

"No, but Papa Heero and Papa Wu-Fei went outside to exercise a little while ago, so I think he's awake."

"He should be getting up anyway. Zechs will be here soon to show us the facility and give us our assignments. I just told Quatre to get up."

"Will I have a work assignment too, Papa Trowa?"

"No, we should probably be sending you to school. We got a little lax about your studies during the quest."

"Would there be other kids like me at school?"

Trowa smiled. "No one is quite like you, Roku, but yes, there would be other kids there. We can ask Zechs about it when he gets here."

"I think I would like to meet other children, but I guess I would have to stay a little boy most of the time."

"That would probably be best." Trowa patted Roku on the head.

Quatre came into the kitchen. "Good morning, Roku. What have you got there?"

"Cereal. It's shaped like little o's. I like it."

Quatre peered into his dish. "I used to eat that when I was little, too. Maybe I'll have some." He got a bowl out of the cupboard and a spoon from one of the drawers. "Where is everyone?"

"Heero and Wu-Fei are outside. Duo's still in bed."

"He better get a move on," Quatre said. "I don't want to keep Zechs waiting."

"I'll get him up. I need his help anyway." Trowa headed toward the bedrooms.

"What's he need Duo for?" Quatre mumbled around a mouthful of cereal.

"His staff slithered off."

"Oh."

Heero and Wu-Fei came in.

"Good morning, Quatre!" Wu-Fei said cheerfully.

"Morning. It sounds like you're over the sneezing."

"Yes, thankfully. The anti-histamine Zechs had the pharmacy send over worked. We've been outside for an hour and I haven't even felt like sneezing."

"That's good news."

Trowa returned leading a bleary-eyed Duo.

"Explain to me again why we're getting up so damned early?" Duo complained.

"Vacation's over," Heero stated flatly. "Time to get back to work."

"Work is a four-letter word," Duo muttered under his breath.

"Do you want some cereal, Papa Duo?" Roku asked. "It's good."

"Yes! Food!"

"Did you find Papa Trowa's staff?"

"Yeah, it's out in the park somewhere. We can pick it up on the way to work."

They were just finishing their breakfast when Zechs arrived. Since he was already done eating, Roku bounded over and stood on his hind paws to open the door. Zechs regarded him with a faintly surprised expression.

"So the report that someone saw a tiger yesterday was not a hallucination."

"I'm Roku, Count Zechs." Roku changed back to a little boy.

Zechs lifted an eyebrow, but otherwise did not appear startled at all. "That's an interesting skill. Are you a tiger who can appear as a boy or a boy who can appear as a tiger?"

"Well," Roku said seriously, "I was born a tiger, but Mama is a human, and I've also been a bird and a dragon and a little girl. But most of the time, I'm a tiger. But I've been a little boy a lot of the time lately, too. So I guess I'm a tiger and a boy." He smiled sweetly at Zechs.

Zechs nodded gravely. "That makes sense. And you are Quatre's son."

"Yes. He's my Mama."

"I see. And your father is…?"

"Papa Trowa and Papa Heero and Papa Duo and Papa Wu-Fei."

"All four?"

"Yes."

"How interesting." Zechs regarded the five Gundam pilots with a faint smile. "I can see that my work terra-forming Mars is nothing next to whatever you've been up to. I look forward to learning the details."

He received five rather sickly smiles in return.

"If you're ready, I'd like to get started."

"We're ready," said Heero.

"I'm still eating!" said Duo.

"We're done!" Heero declared.

"Fine!" Duo grumbled. He quickly shoveled the rest of his cereal into his mouth. "Let's go."

"If you don't mind Zechs, we'd like to visit the school as well," Trowa said. "We need to get Roku enrolled."

"Of course. We'll go there first." Zechs led the way across the park.

Along the way, Trowa retrieved his staff from under a bush. "I'm annoyed with you," he said.

"I was just looking around," the snake hissed back. "This is a fascinating place."

Trowa looped the staff over his shoulder and it clamped itself together around his waist. "Just stay with me from now on."

Zechs observed the exchange curiously. "You brought a snake with you?"

"It's not really a snake," Trowa replied casually. "It's sort of mechanical."

"I see." Zechs pointed ahead of them. "There's the school. Each residential dome has its own school that serves all ages. The education program is quite personalized. It's one of our best selling points when it comes to attracting employees for the project."

The school building was a U-shaped structure with a playground in the middle that was currently occupied by two dozen or so children. Four adults, two women and two men, were watching the children play. They turned to watch the approaching party.

"Good morning, Count Merquise," one of the women greeted them.

"Good morning, Miss Allen. I'd like to introduce some new arrivals to our community." Zechs introduced the five pilots. "And this is Roku, their son. He'll be starting school today."

Miss Allen smiled at Roku. "How do you do, Roku? Welcome to Residential Dome Six."

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Allen," Roku replied politely.

"Why don't you go and get acquainted, Roku? Classes start in fifteen minutes."

"Ok." Roku went to join the other children.

Quatre watched apprehensively. "Do you think he'll be all right?" he murmured to Trowa. "He's really not spent that much time with people his own age."

"He'll be fine," Trowa said. "Everyone likes Roku."

"I wonder if I should have reminded him not to… you know… do things."

"I think he'll remember."

"Roku's been home-schooled all his life," Wu-Fei told the four teachers. "He may be a little behind in some subjects."

"Don't worry, Mr. Chang. We'll do a few assessment tests and devise an education plan tailored to meet his needs."

Wu-Fei smiled. "That sounds fine."

"See you later, Roku!" Duo called.

Roku waved back. He was already hanging upside down from the horizontal bar.

"Shall we go?" Zechs asked.

"Let's get to work," Heero replied.

As the group walked away, the teachers approached their new student.

Miss Allen smiled brightly. "Roku, we are all very happy to have you join our school. Where did you live before coming to Mars?"

"I lived on Earth. In England."

"Oh! Well, I hope you don't find living in Mars Colony too strange. Living in domes is a little different from living in the open on Earth."

Roku dropped to the ground. "Yes it is, but I like it."

Miss Allen clasped her hands together. "Let me introduce everyone. I'm Miss Allen and I teach science and math. This is Mr. Brooks. He teaches history and social studies. Mrs. Levin teaches languages, primarily English. Mr. Yashita teaches pre-school."

Roku greeted each teacher in his usual polite way.

"I also serve as the school principal," Miss Allen continued. "The first thing we'll need to do is assess your skill level in different subjects." She smiled disarmingly. "Don't worry about it too much, though. This is just so we know how challenging to make your class work."

"Ok."

"Do you know any languages besides English, Roku?" Mrs. Levin asked.

Roku nodded. "Papa Wu-Fei taught me a little Mandarin and Cantonese. I learned some Japanese from Papa Heero, but Mama says I can't repeat most of the words he uses. Papa Trowa taught me to speak French because Mama thinks it's pretty, and I learned Arabic from Mama's friends in the Maganac corps when we were there a few weeks ago." Roku paused and the teachers all stared at him in surprise. "Oh, and I know Latin, too, but I'm not supposed to speak Latin except in emergencies."

"Can you read and write in any of those languages?" Mrs. Levin asked faintly.

"A little. I read and write English the best because I learned that first, but I know a lot of Chinese characters. I can read and write Latin and French a little bit because they're really close to English. I'm afraid I can't read Arabic at all."

"Ah… That's ok." Mrs. Levin was a little pale.

The other children were staring at Roku and whispering. Noticing this, Mr. Yashita asked, "Do you have any special skills or interests that you would like to share, Roku?"

Roku was pretty sure he should not mention any of his native skills. "I can fly an airplane and a space shuttle, although I'm not that good at landing yet, and I can pilot a mobile suit."

Everyone stared at him.

"H… How old are you, Roku?" Miss Allen asked.

"I'm nine."

"Well… ah… I can see you have a few advanced skills." She glanced in faint alarm at her fellow teachers. "But we'll be focusing on the basics for now. Why don't we go in and start the day's lessons? Roku, you can start with the class in my room. Then the class moves to Mr. Brooks' room after snack and Mrs. Levin's room after lunch." She and her fellow teachers herded the children into their classrooms.

On the train to the main dome, Quatre was a little worried. "This is the first time we've left Roku completely alone without one of us nearby. You don't think he'll worry do you?"

Trowa patted Quatre's hand. "Don't worry, Quatre. Roku is extremely self-reliant."

"Besides," Duo added, "he can probably teleport to wherever you are if he really wants to."

"Roku can teleport?" Zechs asked in mild surprise.

"I've never seen him do it, but that doesn't mean he can't," Duo said. "We suspect Roku can do pretty much whatever he wants to. He's one talented little kid."

"I'm surprised you were allowed to take him off Earth. I would think the scientists there would want to study him."

"I daresay they would, but Quatre forbids it." Duo winked at Zechs. "And trust me, you do not want to do something Quatre forbids. He gets a bit testy, especially where Roku is concerned."

"I'll have you know I've been quite restrained," Quatre said huffily.

"That's because you're so scary, no one ever risks it after you threaten them."

Quatre glared at Duo. "I am not scary!"

"See what I mean?" Duo whispered to Zechs.

Zechs just smiled.

The Mars terra-forming project required engineers, technicians and workers of all different skill sets. The scientific and mechanical skills of the five Gundam pilots were immediately put to good use.

Duo was assigned to fly transports hauling materials to different terra-forming seed sites.

Quatre and Wu-Fei worked with the scientists, analyzing air and soil samples and measuring bacteria and lichen growth.

Heero and Trowa worked in the engineering department, maintaining both the terra-forming equipment and the domes themselves.

For the first week or so, days passed routinely. But that didn't last. A spate of minor equipment failures kept the engineering department very busy. Heero became suspicious when he and Trowa had to return to the same equipment storage dome to repair a failed motor on one of the external access doors for the third time in as many days.

"This is ridiculous!" Heero growled angrily to Trowa. "We already replaced this motor. It tested out perfectly when we left. There is no reason for it to have failed."

"It's almost like someone deliberately sabotaged it," Trowa nodded in agreement.

Heero and Trowa stared at each other for a second, and then Heero looked around, glaring particularly into the many darker corners of the small dome. Glittering green eyes stared back at him. Then tittering laughter echoed from the dark. Heero began swearing under his breath.

"Get your little gray butts out here right now!" he shouted.

Half a dozen sprites edged out into the light with big grins on their little faces.

"What are you doing here?" Heero demanded.

"The Man with Many Faces has come to an interesting place," said one sprite. The others all nodded, their green eyes shining.

Heero drew a deep breath. "Well, you have to stop breaking things. You might kill someone."

"We only make the machines stop," the sprite said.

"So the Man with Many Faces will have something to do," said another.

"I have plenty to do without your help! Can't you just watch?"

"That is not as much fun."

"You want to have fun?" Heero scrubbed a hand over his face. "You can help me, then." He held up the burned out bearing on the motor the sprites had damaged. "Go find this part in the store room and bring it to me. You know where that is?"

The sprites all nodded.

"Good. Go and get it. Try not to be seen."

The sprites all disappeared. Heero promptly plopped down on his butt. "I'm really getting sick of this."

"But it could be quite helpful if they do bring the part," Trowa pointed out.

"If they bring it."

They waited. Five minutes later, two sprites reappeared, lugging the part between them. They plunked it down on the floor in front of Heero. He stared at it in surprise for a moment.

"Thank you," Heero said finally. "That's just what we needed."

The sprites beamed. "You're welcome, Man with Many Faces." They disappeared.

Trowa gazed thoughtfully at the spot where the sprites had stood. "You know, maybe the reason they bother you so much is because you don't summon them and ask for favors. My staff told me that many spirits actually like being told to do things."

"You think so?"

"It could be."

"Well, I suppose it's worth a try. It can't be any worse than what's been happening."

"True."

Trowa repeated this theory to Quatre on the train home that evening.

"That makes sense," Quatre said. "And it's a good idea if it will reduce the number of incidents I've been hearing about. People are starting to talk."

"They aren't blaming us, are they?"

"Not specifically. We aren't the only new people to come to Mars Colony recently."

"That's good."

"But if Duo starts gambling, that will draw attention to us," Wu-Fei said.

"Don't blame me!" Duo promptly defended himself. "I've been sticking to dice instead of cards so I don't have an unfair advantage. It's not my fault if these people are no better at dice than the worker's on Quatre's resource satellite."

They arrived home to find Roku and Sally sitting on the lawn not far from their house playing cards.

"Hey Sally!" Duo called. "We haven't seen you for days."

"I've been helping out at the main hospital. There have been a lot of accidents resulting in minor injuries lately."

"Nothing serious I hope," Heero said with a faintly guilty tone.

"No. Just bruises and scrapes, mostly." She grinned at him. "Does this have something to do with you?"

"I hope not," Heero muttered.

"But we think we can get it to stop," Trowa added.

"That would be good. Damn!" She smiled fondly at Roku. "You beat me again!"

"I'm good at this game," Roku admitted. "Papa Duo taught me."

"You're not cheating, are you?" Quatre asked.

"No, Mama. I use the real rules, not Papa Duo's rules."

Everyone turned to look at Duo. Duo tried to look innocent.

Sally stood up. "I hope you don't mind; I'm inviting myself to dinner. Noin's busy tonight."

"You're always welcome, Sally," Wu-Fei said. "Come in."

Roku gathered up the cards and stood up. "Mama, Miss Allen asked me to tell you that she would like to speak with you and Papa Wu-Fei about my home-schooling when you have time."

Quatre paled. "What happened?"

"Nothing. She just wants to know why Papa Wu-Fei taught me algebra, geometry, calculus, probability and statistics, physics, chemistry, biology, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, medieval history and philosophy without ever covering modern history."

"Is that all?"

Roku nodded.

"I guess we can go talk to her before work tomorrow."

"Ok."

Trowa and Quatre followed Roku and the others into the house.

"Man, teachers sure are getting demanding!" Quatre said. "You try to give a kid a solid foundation in the basics and they still find something to complain about!"

"It's definitely not like it used to be," Trowa agreed.


	11. A Blast from the Past

**Quote of the Day (from Riyo)**: I can't think in English, I'm doing math!

-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 11: A Blast from the Past

Three sprites stood in front of Heero with serious expressions on their little gray faces, listening to him explain the purpose of terra-forming.

"You want to make the plants grow?" one of the sprites asked.

"That's right," Heero replied. "But Earth plants won't grow here because there isn't enough food in the soil and the air is too thin."

"And that's why you put the rock-eaters in the ground?"

"Yes. The microbes break down the rock and release oxygen. That helps the lichen grow."

"Wouldn't big plants be better?"

"The soil needs to be richer to support larger plants. It's also very cold and there's no water. And the air is still too thin."

The sprites nodded gravely. They exchanged several quick chirps and then looked up at Heero with big smiles.

"We can make the little plants grow."

"This is a very delicate process," Heero said worriedly. "If you mess it up, they'll have to start over. That would be very bad." He fixed the sprites with a stern glare.

"We understand, Man with Many Faces," the sprites replied in unison. "We will help the little plants grow. We like plants. We would never hurt plants."

The three sprites vanished.

"This could be a complete disaster," Heero said. He looked at Wu-Fei, who had watched his exchange with the sprites.

Wu-Fei shrugged. "Your sprites are forest spirits. I think they may do exactly what they said."

"I hope so. We better tell Quatre what I've done. You two will need to be ready with an explanation if the growth rate of the lichen suddenly accelerates."

"We should probably tell Zechs, too. It's his project."

"Do we have to?" Heero groaned. "If we tell him this, we'll have to start explaining all kinds of stuff."

"He's already heard most of it, I suspect. He may as well hear the rest."

"This is ridiculous," Heero grumbled. "Pretty soon there's going to be a documentary about us. We haven't managed to keep one thing secret."

"Sure we have. A lot more happened to us in the past than people know about."

"Yet." Heero amended darkly.

Wu-Fei laughed. "It's not like your secrets are embarrassing. I have scales growing on my butt."

Heero grinned. "Good point."

"Anyway, I'll tell Quatre on our way over to the school. We have an appointment this morning to talk to the principal about Roku."

"Ok. I'll go get Duo up. I can't believe he's still asleep."

"I can. He was fucking me all night."

"Oh, yeah?"

"He says the scales on my butt turn him on."

"They are kind of neat."

"Go to work!" Wu-Fei rolled his eyes and went to look for Quatre.

Quatre was on his way out the front door with Roku. "We better hurry, Fei. We only have about twenty minutes before school starts."

"Right".

The three of them headed for the school. When they arrived, Roku dashed off to play with the other children. Miss Allen greeted the two Gundam pilots with a nervous smile.

"Good morning, Mr. Winner. Good morning, Mr. Chang. I'm glad you could meet with me. Why don't we go into my office?"

Miss Allen's office was in the back of her classroom. Like every principal's office everywhere, she had a wide desk with three chairs in front of it, where a child could sit between two parents during a conference. When they were all seated, Miss Allen leaned forward with her arms folded on the desk in front of her.

"First of all, I want to assure you that there is no problem with Roku's prior education. I am, however, a little… dumbfounded by the range of his home-schooling. His instruction is nearly at the college level in some areas." She blinked at them expectantly.

Wu-Fei cleared his throat. "Well, we were traveling quite a bit when Roku was growing up and we had a lot of time for lessons."

Miss Allen was silent a moment, clearly expecting to hear a little more. When no more explanation was forthcoming, she said, "I see. Are you trained as an educator, Mr. Chang?"

"No, but I was a scholar in my youth."

"In your youth?" Miss Allen didn't seem to think Wu-Fei was old enough to refer to himself that way. "Well," she continued, "I'm afraid Roku's education exceeds the capabilities of the teachers here in many areas. He is missing instruction in history and some social sciences, but that's about it. So he can attend Mr. Brooks' class, and Mrs. Levin can give him instruction in English and French literature, but I'm afraid he's beyond my curriculum for math and science. I was hoping to get your permission to have Roku attend Mr. Yashita's class in place of mine. Mr. Yashita has offered to teach Roku art." She smiled at them hopefully.

"Art?" Quatre said. He looked at Wu-Fei. "Why not? Roku would probably enjoy that."

"I'm sure he would," Wu-Fei agreed.

Miss Allen looked relieved. "Very good! We'll start this afternoon." She stood up. "Thank you again for taking the time to discuss this with me." She shook hands with both of them.

Outside, Roku bounded up to them. "Do I get to take art with Mr. Yashita?"

Quatre patted Roku on the head. "How did you know that's what we were talking about?"

Roku grinned. "I guessed, 'cause Mr. Yashita asked me if I ever had an art class before."

"It's still a lesson," Wu-Fei said, "so pay attention and follow directions."

"Yes, Papa Wu-Fei."

"Have a good day, sweetie."

"I will, Mama."

"That didn't take too long," Wu-Fei said as they left. "If we hurry, we can probably catch the others at the train station."

On the train, Heero spoke to Quatre and Zechs quietly. "Quatre, you remember that theory Trowa had about asking the sprites for help?"

"Yes," Quatre said.

"Well, this morning, I sort of explained terra-forming to the sprites and they said they would help the lichen grow."

"You did what?"

"They're forest spirits! How bad could it be?"

"Heero…"

"Excuse me," Zechs interrupted. "I think I need a more lengthy explanation." He smiled charmingly at Heero.

"Well…" Heero began, somewhat hesitantly. "You see… I… ah… have a relationship with these little gray forest spirits called sprites. They can be a little troublesome, so Trowa suggested giving them something constructive to do."

"Would these sprites by any chance be responsible for our recent spate of accidents?"

"Yes," Heero admitted with a sour expression. "We're trying to put an end to that."

"By having them help with the terra-forming?" Zechs did not quite keep all the skepticism out of his otherwise smooth tone.

"They ARE forest spirits!" Heero repeated, a little defensively. "And they seemed to understand what we're trying to do. I think it will work."

"You don't sound that confident," Quatre said.

"I am!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Quatre sighed. "Well, Zechs, there's nothing we can do about it anyway. Sprites will obey Heero up to a point, but they will still do pretty much whatever they please most of the time."

"I can't recall ever having seen or heard of anything like this on Mars before. Did you bring the sprites with you? Like Trowa's mechanical snake?"

"Sort of," Heero mumbled.

"The sprites are not bound to a physical plane, being largely spiritual creatures," Quatre explained more fully, "but they have an affinity for Heero, so they can go wherever he goes."

"I see." Zechs laughed softly. "So my entire project has been jeopardized because Une sent you here to quell trouble in the colonies. First Wu-Fei tries to set fire to the colony; then you set a tiger and a snake loose in the dome; and now you have turned the most intricate scientific part of the whole process over to a group of willful, mischievous spirits. I am not looking forward to making my next report to Earth."

"Boy, it sounds a lot worse when you put it like that!" Duo said cheerfully. "Lighten up! Trowa can always summon a great spirit to keep the sprites in line, if necessary."

Zechs lifted an eyebrow. "A great spirit?"

"Yeah. Sprites are lesser spirits and they'll obey a great spirit."

Zechs looked around at the five Gundam pilots. "I think we should all dine together tonight. I believe I need to hear the complete details of how you came to possess this rather eccentric set of abilities. I have the distinct impression that there is a good deal more I should know, as head of this facility."

Five sets of shoulders slumped and five heads nodded in unison. "Of course, Count Merquise," Quatre said for all of them.

That night, everyone was a little on edge in anticipation of explaining everything to Zechs Merquise. Trowa kept wandering in and out of the kitchen looking perplexed until Quatre snapped at him.

"Dammit, Trowa! Either help or stay out of the way!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't find my damn staff again. I thought I straightened it, but it's not where I left it."

"Why worry about it now? It'll come back. Now go set the table."

"I'll help you, Papa Trowa," Roku offered. In a whisper, he added. "Mama's a little annoyed because he burned part of our dinner."

"Oh. Let's get the dishes."

Duo suddenly popped into the kitchen. "Did anyone hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I think I just heard Noin scream." He frowned. "There it is again! Something about a snake…"

"Oh, shit!" Trowa exclaimed. He dashed for the door. Duo took off after him. Roku started to follow, but Quatre clamped a hand on his young shoulder.

"You stay right here and set the table."

"Yes Mama," Roku said in a disappointed tone.

At Noin's house, Trowa and Duo burst in without knocking.

"Is someone there!" Noin cried from the bathroom. "Help! There's a giant snake in here!"

Trowa flung the bathroom door open. Noin was cowering in her bathtub, pressed against the far wall with her towel clutched in front of her. Trowa's staff was coiled in a neat pile in the corner, its head lifted about waist high, staring at her with glittering eyes.

Trowa glared at the snake. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

"She is a beautiful woman, is she not?" the snake replied dreamily. "I've been watching her change clothes through the window, but I just had to get a closer look."

"You're a damn peeping tom!"

"We all have weaknesses."

Trowa marched up to the snake and grabbed it below the head. He lifted it into the air, grabbed its tail and jerked it straight with a sharp snap.

"Ouch!" the staff hissed.

"Serves you right!"

Noin stared. "What's going on?"

"I'd like to know that, too," added Zechs.

Duo and Trowa whirled around with guilty expressions.

"Um… Well…" Trowa stammered.

"That thing was watching me bathe!" Noin cried accusingly. "Was it recording me?" Her towel slipped a little, revealing an intriguing amount of bosom.

"No!" Trowa said quickly.

"You said it was mechanical," Zechs reminded him.

"Well… it's hard to explain," Trowa said. "It's kind of… magical… and… well… it's sort of alive."

"It IS a snake!" Noin squealed.

"Sort of," Trowa said quickly, "but not really. Anyway, it wasn't recording you. It just has this… thing… for pretty women, so…"

Noin blushed and her eyes flicked to Zechs. Zechs wasn't looking at her and a disappointed look flitted across her face. Duo watched her curiously.

"Anyway," Trowa continued, "I won't let it happen again. I'll keep it locked up."

The staff sighed sadly.

"It's your own fault," Trowa hissed at it.

"Why don't we let Noin get dressed?" Zechs suggested. "She can join us for dinner. As my second-in-command, I think she also needs to hear what you have to tell me."

"Of course," Trowa smiled weakly.

Duo, however, was looking speculatively from Zechs to Noin and back again. As they walked back to their own house, Duo leaned close to Trowa and whispered, "Noin is totally hot for Count Merquise there, but he is completely not interested. That's weird, isn't it? Noin's pretty hot."

Trowa glanced at Zechs. "Maybe he's interested in someone else."

"Could be, but I'm not picking up anything."

"I thought you didn't read people's minds on purpose."

Duo flushed slightly. "I don't, but usually when you're standing there looking at a practically naked woman, you start thinking about the person you wouldn't mind seeing like that. Zechs wasn't." Duo grinned. "I sure was!"

Trowa chuckled. "But you're always thinking about sex. Not everyone is like you."

They entered the house and Trowa went to lock his staff in the closet.

"Oh good, you're back," Quatre said. "Dinner's almost ready."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to wait for Noin," Zechs said. "She should hear this, too."

"Of course," Quatre managed to sound like he thought it was a good idea.

They did not have to wait long. Noin arrived a few minutes later with Sally in tow. She looked around with round eyes. "That snake's not around, is it?"

"No," Trowa assured her. "I locked it in the closet."

"Thank goodness! I want to know what's going on!"

"That's why we're here," Zechs said. He looked expectantly at the Gundam pilots. "Why don't we get started?"

"Um… Well…" Quatre began. "You see, it's like this…" He proceeded to describe the shuttle accident and their excursion into the past. He glossed over several details, except every now and then, Zechs would drag him back to a particular topic and ask dismayingly pointed questions. All five pilots were squirming uncomfortably by the end.

"Well," Zechs said when Quatre was finished. "That's very interesting. Time travel…" he trailed off with a thoughtful and rather sad expression on his face.

"That's it!" Duo suddenly shouted and then clapped a hand over his mouth.

"What's it?" Heero demanded.

"Nothing!" Duo said quickly.

"Out with it!" Heero growled.

"He's thinking about Treize Kushranada, that's all," Duo whispered to Heero and Trowa

"Treize!" Trowa exclaimed aloud. He tried hard not to look at Noin.

"What about Treize?" Wu-Fei asked. He suddenly looked very sad, too.

"Who is Treize?" Roku asked. He regarded Wu-Fei's sad expression worriedly.

Wu-Fei sighed. "Treize Kushranada was the leader of the Earth Sphere Alliance two wars ago. I… killed him in battle." Wu-Fei sighed sadly. "I really regret that. I shouldn't have won that fight, but I think he wanted to die."

Zechs put his hand over his face and sighed quietly.

"Oh," Roku said. He stood up. "Can you help me with something, Papa Wu-Fei?"

"Of course, Roku."

Wu-Fei stepped over to Roku as Roku reached under his left arm. Roku felt around for a moment with an intent expression. Then his face cleared. He pulled something from under his arm. "Take this, Papa Wu-Fei. Help me pull it out."

Puzzled, Wu-Fei reached forward and grasped the object. It was a human hand. "What the…!" Wu-Fei exclaimed. He pulled on the hand as Roku tugged on the wrist.

Treize Kushranada, former leader of the Earth Sphere Alliance, Commander of Oz and one-time President of the Romafeller Foundation, slid stark-naked out from under Roku's arm and landed on his knees by the young wizard.

Everyone stared in complete shock.

Treize looked around with a faintly surprised expression. "This is not how I had envisioned heaven. Or hell, for that matter."

"Treize…" Zechs whispered. Then he leaped over the table, knocked Treize to the floor and began kissing him urgently.

Duo stared in alarm. "Uh… Zechs, should you be doing that? Treize was dead a minute ago. Zechs? Are you listening?" Duo's eyes widened in alarm. "Ok, I think we better leave them alone." He started herding everyone toward the door.

Noin was staring with her mouth open. "What's going on here?"

"Sally, take Noin home right now!" Duo ordered. His eyes were getting a little wild. "Heero! Wu-Fei! I need you in the bedroom! These mental images are getting way too graphic for me! Quatre! Take Roku to Zechs' house this instant!" When no one moved, because they were all too busy staring at Zechs tearing off his own clothes, Duo started shouting. "Everybody do as I say! Right now!" He reinforced the command with a psychic compulsion and everyone scattered. Duo stumbled after Heero and Wu-Fei, just as Zechs was straddling Treize.

"I missed you, Treize," Zechs moaned.

Treize could only groan in response.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_Hee-hee! I love Treize and Zechs. Their relationship in this story is based on another story I wrote, Victoria Base Affair, which Riyo posted for me. (AmethystWolfDragon on ff dot net and Riyo Dragon on mm dot org.) That story is canon and provides the back-story for why Treize and Zechs act the way they do in the Gundam Wing TV series. In fact, I am in the process of writing an Extended Edition version of Victoria Base Affair, because it was the first fan fiction story I ever wrote and I didn't do the best job on character development. I'll start posting the re-write later this year._


	12. Now We've Done It

**Dear Readers**: I think I'd better mention now that this is the last chapter in this installment of my Gundam Wing series. But rest assured this is not the end! The story will continue in a new installment, which I will tell you about at the end of the chapter. But don't skip ahead to read that part first!

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 12: Now We've Done It

"Roku," Quatre said seriously. "I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to bring people back from the dead."

Roku hung his head. "But Count Zechs and Papa Wu-Fei were really sad about it."

Quatre gave Roku a hug. "And it was really sweet of you to worry about them. You're very compassionate. But we need to think about how Treize feels."

"Papa Duo said Mr. Treize was really happy to see Count Zechs. They're still being naughty."

"It's a good thing we have that extra bedroom," Trowa noted.

"And that Duo could convince them to stop fucking long enough to go use it," Heero agreed. "Although the idea of Duo suggesting people stop fucking, even briefly, seems sort of apocalyptic."

"The dead _have_ risen," Trowa chuckled.

"True."

Quatre frowned at them. "Would you two please be serious? We have a serious problem on our hands. Nearly everyone in the Earth Sphere saw Treize Kushranada die over a year ago. How are we going to explain that he's alive and well and getting his brains fucked out in our spare bedroom?"

"That might be a little difficult," Heero conceded.

Quatre glanced at the clock. "Damn! We don't have time to do anything about it right now. If none of us show up for work, it will definitely cause suspicion." As he often did in tactical situations, Quatre assumed command. "This is what we're going to do. Heero, Duo and I will go to work and Roku will go to school. Trowa, you stay here and make sure Treize understands that he cannot leave the house, assuming Zechs ever lets him out of bed. And make sure Zechs understands that he cannot tell anyone Treize is alive again. Wu-Fei, you go to Noin's house and make sure she understands that she cannot tell anyone Treize is alive again either. Enlist Sally's help if you need it. I'm sure she understands the situation already." Quatre looked at each of them in turn to make sure they understood their orders. Everyone nodded. "Good. We'll meet here tonight and figure out what we're going to do."

"I suppose shoving Treize back into Roku's storage space is not an option," Heero said speculatively.

Everyone gave him a stern look, including Roku.

Heero held up his hands defensively. "I wasn't suggesting we do it! I just thought we should at least bring the option up."

"What's done is done," Quatre said. "We're just going to have to figure out how to make the situation work for us. Let's get moving."

The group broke up to carry out Quatre's orders.

Sally answered the door when Wu-Fei arrived at Noin's cottage.

"Good morning, Wu-Fei!" she greeted him cheerfully, even though the dark circles under her eyes made it obvious she hadn't slept. "How are things going over at your house?"

"As well as might be expected," said Wu-Fei. "How is Noin?"

Sally grinned. "As well as might be expected, for having just found out, rather dramatically, that the man she wants is batting for the other team. Come in."

Noin was slumped on the couch, looking tremendously depressed. She looked up at Wu-Fei with red, bleary eyes. "I suppose everyone is laughing at me for not having figured it out sooner," she said mournfully.

"Of course not, Noin," Wu-Fei replied gently. "Honestly, none of us knew Zechs had a thing for Treize until last night."

"I feel like a fool," Noin said. "I've known Zechs for years! How could I not know this?"

"We already had this conversation, Noin," Sally interrupted gently. "There's no point continuing to hash it over. Zechs is still your friend; that hasn't changed. It's not like he's been leading you on."

"Well, dammit, he could have!" Noin exclaimed. "Would it have killed him to screw me a few times? His lover was dead, for crying out loud! He's been pining for Treize all this time? The bastard!" Noin jumped to her feet. "I'm going over there to kick the shit out of him!"

Wu-Fei and Sally each grabbed an arm and they forced her back down onto the couch.

"Lemme go! Dammit!" Noin struggled for a moment and then gave up. "That son-of-a-bitch owes me. I've been waiting for him to notice me for years. He could have said something, like 'Gee, Noin, I'm a total fag so maybe you should throw yourself at someone else'. Would it have killed him to mention it?" She slumped back again, mumbling under her breath.

"Zechs has always been a very private person," Sally said.

Noin snorted. "He wasn't all that private last night when he was jamming Treize's dick up his…"

"Noin!" Sally interrupted. "Try to show a little kindness. Clearly there is more to his relationship with Treize than we know."

"Yeah, right," Noin grumbled. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at nothing.

"I realize this is quite upsetting," Wu-Fei said, "but at this time we need to think about the delicacy of the situation. Everyone thinks Treize is dead. His reappearance could cause quite a shock. It could even destabilize the Earth Sphere sufficiently to start another war."

"Good!" Noin growled. "I feel like killing something."

"Wu-Fei is right, Noin," Sally said. "We need to think about what might happen on Earth and in the Colonies if people learn Treize is alive."

"Then why don't we just stick him back where he came from?"

"I don't think we can do that," Wu-Fei replied. "Although Roku didn't say it, I suspect he pulled Treize through time to get him here. Putting him back would be the equivalent of killing him and I don't think Roku would do that."

Noin scowled. "I wasn't suggesting we kill him." She paused. "Ok, maybe I was, but what are we supposed to do? We can hardly keep him prisoner in your house for the rest of his life."

"We know that. Quatre wants everyone to meet at the house tonight to decide what to do. In the meantime, no one is to mention that Treize is here. Agreed?"

"Of course," Sally said immediately.

Noin mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?" asked Wu-Fei.

"I said ok!" Noin snapped. She continued to scowl.

"Very well." Wu-Fei stood up. "Trowa's staying at the house to keep an eye on Treize and Zechs. The rest of us will be at work. Quatre thinks we should all go about our normal routines to avoid arousing suspicion."

"That's a good idea," Sally said. "We'll go to work too and meet you back at the house tonight." Sally walked Wu-Fei to the door. "I'll stick with Noin today," she said quietly. "It looks like it might take her awhile to get over this."

"She does seem rather upset."

Sally shrugged. "She just needs a little time. I'll just keep her away from the edged weapons for the time being."

"Good plan."

It was close to midday when Zechs found Trowa having lunch in the kitchen.

"I apologize for imposing on your hospitality like this," Zechs said. "The only excuse I can offer is that I have been harboring a deep affection for Treize for a long time."

"So we gathered," Trowa replied with a smile. "How is Treize?"

"He's sleeping." Zechs smiled slightly. "I'm afraid I exhausted him. Anyway, I thought I'd go back to my cottage to find something for him to wear. While it might be my inclination to keep him naked and in bed, realistically I must assume that he will eventually need to leave the bedroom."

Trowa nodded. "We're planning to get together this evening to discuss the ramifications of Treize's reappearance."

Zechs sighed. "I suppose we will need to do that. His presence could prove quite problematic. I confess I don't want to think about it. I think my frame of mind is not much beyond Duo's usual inclination at the moment."

"I can understand that."

"Treize will probably want to eat when he wakes up."

"No problem. I'll make something for him."

"Thank you."

Roku was the first to return to the house that afternoon and he found Trowa, Zechs and Treize talking in the living room.

"Roku," Trowa said, "come meet Treize. I don't think you had a chance to get introduced last night."

Roku approached Treize a little shyly. "How do you do, Mr. Treize? I'm sorry if you wanted to stay dead."

Treize took Roku's hand and shook it gravely. "On the contrary, Roku, you have my deepest gratitude. Being reunited with Zechs is something I longed for up to the moment of my apparent death. I look forward to the opportunity to become your friend."

Roku beamed. "Papa Trowa, may I have a snack?"

"Yes, you may."

"May I be a tiger while I eat it? My fur needs fluffing."

"Sure."

Roku trotted off to the kitchen.

Treize blinked in mild surprise. "I suppose it should come as no surprise that he can shape change, given that he brought me back from the dead."

"Roku is a rather powerful wizard," Trowa acknowledged.

"Indeed? I can see many fascinating things have occurred in my absence." Treize smiled at Zechs. "Although, in complete honesty, I would rather spend my time in private with Zechs right now than learn about all of that."

Zechs smiled seductively at Treize in response.

"Especially if he keeps looking at me like that."

Trowa chuckled. "We have a few hours before the others are due back."

"Really?" Treize took Zechs by the hand. "Well then, if you'll excuse us, I think I'd like to, ah, resume getting reacquainted with Zechs." They retired to the bedroom.

Roku padded in from the kitchen, licking his whiskers. "They're being naughty again."

"Yes, they are."

Roku plopped down on his belly. "They must like each other an awful lot."

"I think they do."

"What will happen to Mr. Treize?"

"That's what we're going to decide tonight."

"Oh." Roku produced a ball and started playing. Trowa got down on the floor and joined him.

Trowa had dinner waiting when everyone returned to the house later. Quatre once again took charge as they squeezed in around the table to eat.

"First of all, Lord Kushranada, I'd like to welcome you back," Quatre began.

"Thank you, Quatre," Treize replied, "although I must tell you that no time has elapsed for me that I can remember." He smiled disarmingly at Wu-Fei. "In fact, the last thing I remember is sacrificing myself to Wu-Fei. But that is all literally in the past now. I am quite happy to put it all behind me."

"I don't know how much Zechs has told you," Quatre continued, "but your return does put us in a bit of an awkward situation. A lot of people still attach quite a lot of emotion to your name. We're afraid your return might lead to trouble in the Earth Sphere."

"I have no desire to be the cause of another war," Treize said. "But I understand that the terra-forming project on Mars is scheduled to last years. I am more than willing to remain on Mars, particularly since Zechs will be staying here."

Quatre nodded. "Thank you for understanding."

"But someone is bound to recognize him," Noin spoke up. "Treize is too well known." Surprisingly, she managed to sound fairly objective.

"But everyone thinks Treize is dead," Sally pointed out. "Even if someone thinks they recognize him, they're far more likely to think he's just someone who looks a lot like Treize."

"Are you sure?" Noin didn't sound convinced. "We all thought Zechs was killed in that war too and he survived."

"It's been over a year."

"I don't know." Noin frowned at Zechs. "I just feel like we'd be taking a risk. And what about Une? If she finds out that someone who looks like Treize is living on Mars, she'll be out here faster than a sprite and there's no way she wouldn't recognize Treize for who he is on sight."

Sally pursed her lips. "Unfortunately, you're probably right about that."

"I'm certain she's right," Treize agreed. "Une has always had very strong feelings for me." He pushed away from the table and stood up. "Perhaps it would be better if I returned to the past." He smiled sadly at Zechs. "This single day has been a greater reward than I expected for sacrificing my life."

"No!" Zechs exclaimed. "I'm not giving you up."

Treize touched Zechs on the cheek. "But you and I have made greater sacrifices for the greater good of mankind."

"I'm sick of sacrificing for the greater good of mankind!" Zechs growled. "Don't we ever get to be damned selfish?"

"Wait a minute!" Duo said. "I think Treize said it. The answer, I mean. Why don't we return to the past? We did it before." He looked around the table.

Everyone stared at him with expressions ranging from surprise to interested speculation.

"I'm not going back to medieval times!" Wu-Fei exclaimed. "Inadequate sanitation and inedible meals have no appeal for me."

"But you gotta admit, if we stay here, the chances of us messing everything up are pretty high," Duo said. "Since we got back from the quest, our magical powers have been getting in the way a lot."

"He has a good point," Trowa agreed.

"No!" Wu-Fei repeated.

"It was kind of interesting," Heero said thoughtfully.

"Please!" Wu-Fei pleaded.

"I miss the forest," Roku said. He had slipped back into tiger form and was lolling on the floor.

Wu-Fei put his head in his hands and moaned.

"Are you suggesting we time travel to some time in the distant past?" Treize asked. His face was alight with curiosity.

"Yup," Duo nodded. "It was an accident the first time we did it, but Quatre has a spell book that can probably send us anywhere we want to go."

"That is very interesting."

"You don't know what you're saying!" Wu-Fei moaned. "They eat spoiled meat! Their idea of vegetables is old tubers out of the ground! They don't bathe!"

"Quit focusing on the negative, Fei!" Duo punched his arm. "Think about all the fun we had!"

"I kind of enjoyed jousting," Heero admitted.

Roku pulled a toy out of his storage space and started rolling it back and forth between his paws.

"And the best part is, we can stay in the past for a year and come back only a week or so later in our time and see how things are going." Duo grinned. "It would sort of be like a vacation."

"Can you really do that?" Treize was astonished.

"Sure. Last time, everyone thought we'd only been gone a day."

"Well, I have to admit I'm very intrigued."

Quatre glanced over at Roku. "What have you got there, Roku? I don't think I've seen that toy before."

Roku stopped rolling the toy. "It's a cup. I found it in the Wizard's Cave."

"A cup!" Quatre, Trowa, Heero, Duo and Wu-Fei said in unison.

Roku blinked in surprise. "Yeah. I think it's made of clay; it's got a pretty glaze on it. See?" He rolled the cup over slowly so they could see the whole thing.

The five Gundam pilots stared.

"You don't suppose…?" Trowa said slowly.

"It can't be…" Wu-Fei said.

"It's the Holy Grail." Duo said.

"Roku!" Quatre exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us you found it?"

Roku looked at the cup. "Is this what you were looking for? You never said what it was."

The five pilots exchanged embarrassed glances.

"He's right," Duo said. "Now that he mentions it, I don't think we ever once said the Holy Grail was a cup."

"We have to take it back," Quatre said. "We need to put it back in the Wizard's Cave."

"But the Cave isn't guarded any more," Trowa said. "Anyone could blunder in there and find it."

"Why not leave it where it is?" Duo asked. "What could possibly be safer than Roku's storage space?"

"But I feel so guilty!" Quatre exclaimed. "All that time Percival was hoping to find it and it was right under his nose at the end."

Wu-Fei sighed in deep resignation. "I guess this means we have to go back in time. Instead of the Wizard's Cave, we could put it in Gift's cave. I'm sure he'd be glad to tuck it away in his hoard."

"That's a good idea," Heero agreed with a nod. "But we can't go back to the same time. King Arthur did more or less kick us out."

"That's true," said Trowa. "Anyone have a personal favorite time period they'd like to check out?"

Roku sat up. "I read a book at school yesterday about Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Can we go to Sherwood Forest?"

This was greeted with a speculative silence.

Finally, Quatre said, "Why not? Dragons live for centuries, so I'm sure Gift would still be around."

"We could learn to shoot arrows!" Roku said excitedly.

"They still jousted," Heero added.

"Maybe the cooking will have improved," Wu-Fei put in hopefully.

"A chance to study history first hand," Treize said with a dreamy smile. "This is a most exciting prospect."

"And you could really arrange it so we only seemed to be gone for a week?" Zechs asked.

"Yes," said Quatre.

"I haven't taken time off since we came to Mars," Zechs noted.

Sally stood up and put her hands on her hips. "It sounds like it's decided then," she announced. "How much time do you need to get ready?" she asked Quatre.

"It doesn't take me any time at all, but we should probably get some supplies and personal items together before we go."

"And I should make arrangements before I leave," Zechs added. He regarded Noin with a slightly guilty expression. "You don't mind if I leave you in charge for a week, do you, Noin?"

"Do I have a choice?" she grumbled. Then she relented and managed a crooked smile. "Maybe I'm a little envious. You better bring me back some souvenirs."

Zechs smiled. "Of course."

"But this only pushes the problem out a week for us," Noin reminded them.

"True," said Sally, "but we can spend the time coming up with a more permanent solution. Gentlemen, take care on your journey and come home safe." She held out her arms and got hugs from everyone. Noin got hugs, too.

"Should I keep the Holy Grail until we give it to Gift?" Roku asked.

"Yes, dear," Quatre replied. "And I promise: next time we're looking for something, I'll tell you exactly what it is."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_And thus ends the story The Magicians of Gundam Wing. Join us for the next exciting installment: Gundam Wing and the Men of Sherwood Forest! Joined by their friends Zechs and Treize, the five Gundam pilots and their son Roku discover the legend of Robin Hood isn't quite what they've been told!_


End file.
